Fox Identity
by Arkhe
Summary: Realising that he is the Demon Fox, Naruto grows up plotting revenge against the very Village that sealed him. But when he finds his place amongst them, what is he to do? [Chapter 5b: Shattered Ocean]
1. Fox: Prologue

**Warning list **(complete list in next chapter)  
**_COPYRIGHT_  
**In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.

**Misc.  
****Pairings:** One friendship triangle(?)... No Yaoi/Yuri  
**General FAQ section located at end.  
**

* * *

**Fox Identity  
**by _Arkhe_

**Prologue **

A small, young boy approached the park, drawn by the vibrant voices. Among the trees, gardens, playground and open spaces, were a great deal many children in the throes of laughing and playing merrily. At first, he'd taken hesitant steps, but had eventually ended up wandering amongst them, gazing in open wonder at the joyful throng. He had only yet to choose a group to join, when a parent gasped at seeing him. It set a chain reaction of adults gathering their children until there were two opposing sides with an invisible border separating them.

One side consisted of parents and their confused children.

The other was Uzumaki Naruto.

The parents had glared at him, willing him to cross the unseen barrier, so that any action they take, they can later justify it towards the defense of their offspring.

And though all the children didn't know what was happening, it didn't stop them from interpreting the blond boy as an unwelcome person that their parents had mutually agreed on. Most backed away and a few had sneered at him too. A few even dared to throw a rock in his direction, to encourage him to leave.

Naruto glared back for only a moment, not understanding why this happened.

Never understanding why this always happened.

Actions like these had repeated themselves time and time again at different stages as he grew up -sometimes more than once on the same day! Because of these instances, a naive young Naruto had sworn to find the reason for why he had been treated so poorly. From eavesdropping at any opportunity, to forcing himself to expand his vocabulary so that he could understand all the kinds of books he could get his hands on; his wealth of obscure knowledge grew. By now, he developed his mind to be primitively, yet sharply analytical to every not so common details. But he still never found out as to why these events repeated.

Naruto backed down from the baleful glares and retreated for any place that wasn't home just yet, openly grimacing at the thought. Spending time inside the house was just as unbearable when his own housekeeper detested his presence. She would not even give him her name or time of day, let alone any semblance of conversation. But she would leave soon, as did all the people prior to her.

In fact, hours later on arrival of his home, Naruto found that she had already gone and the sparse amount of his worldly possessions had been vandalised. It did not surprise him. Some caretakers of his had also left under similar circumstances. This time, he resolved not to report this case. It just would not do for another to come and then repeat the cycle again.

Forgoing the tending to the current disarray, Naruto had opted to wash up to start dinner immediately. So it was when he pursued cleansing himself in the bathroom, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

And his sad visage stared back.

The faucet continued to pour, now totally ignored as Naruto had engrossed himself with his reflection.

A silent plea crossed his eyes.  
A yearning to become someone else...  
A wish to change that face...  
An intent to kill that person staring at him...

The person in the mirror's look changed from hurt to hatred. It was not uncommon for him to be on the receiving end of this look and he had expected it from the mirror all the time.

It had been long ago, weeks -perhaps even months, when he would deny all the damnings against him. Voicing vehemently to himself that he was not any of it and then questioning as to why it was like this. But all too soon did it change. He found himself believing them and repeating the names... All the time questioning his right to life.

"Monster."

The person in the mirror had lowered their head a little.

"I don't deserve to live."

The reflection bore bare teeth.

"Bastard."

It had practically spat on him.

"Demon."

! ...There!

In the eyes... He saw... something... Something there...

"Demon!"

Mustering more emotion into this burst, the reflection had shown him a flicker of red irises for a brief moment. Not caring what to make of it, Naruto was swept with emotion. Summoning every inch of hatred and malice into the very image that stared back at him, he screamed at the face intensely, believing the very essence of the word.

"DEMON!"

And then it just happened so quickly...

A falling sensation...  
A corridor within corridors of ankle-deep water...  
A row of bars held together by a seal...  
A demon locked away unmoving...  
Unblinking red eyes of the Nine-Tails staring through him...

Dead red eyes staring...

His reflection's red eyes staring right back at him.

Though back in the present, Naruto's young, limited mind was elsewhere, as everything he knew finally fell into place.

Everyone hating him.  
His 'whisker' birthmarks.  
The red eyes he now donned.

"I am a demon."

With this new understanding, his eyes turned back to their old blue tinge almost as if they too acknowledged this.

In a week, Naruto would go to a library and research any and all details of the mythical kind, finally pinpointing just who he had briefly encountered. It would be weeks before he would structure the need to grow stronger. And it would be years before he would finally fathom a destiny only for him.

But for now, he understood one need--

Naruto tugged at his facial muscles into an unused expression. It was by closing his eyes and baring rows of teeth in an amused snarl, giving the impression of a wide, foxy grin.

--a need for retribution.

_End prologue._

Feedback, constructive criticism and flames welcomed.  
I'll take it and a side of fries. If it's informative, I'll hold-off the obligatory soft drink.

* * *

**Author's notes:**  
Well dear reader, I'd like to thank you for reaching this point.  
Anyway, I guess I just wanna say... Nothing really 'cept that this chapter was based on the few times the series references Naruto's childhood, when he was staring into a mirror. 

Just to clear up a few things **(updated by 20th of October 05, and on 8 March 06)**;

**General FAQ**  
There'll be a little heat and one triangle. The focus is mainly on friendships. It's going to sketch out; -Naruto being torn between choosing finding his place amongst friends or the closure of revenge.  
-Expect 30+ chapters over all.  
-I'll reply to all reviews. Additionally, if a common question keeps popping up, they will be answered in the newest chapter, and then subsequently removed with the chapter that follows that one.

I apologise, but the commitee will not deliver your next chapter until they are happy that it has a quality seal of approval. That is all.

Have a Great, Happy day!

**Release: **Jun 04 '05  
**First revision: **Oct 20 '05  
**Second revision: **Mar 08 '06


	2. Fox: 01 A Feeling

**Warning list**  
_COPYRIGHT_  
In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.  
_MANGA-BASED_  
This is based more around the manga structure than the anime.  
_MULTI-CHAPTER_  
Basically, it'll go through the whole series (til 3 year mark) but with that Foxy twist.  
_JUTSU/TECHS_  
I'll use a bit of Japanese here and there for more character definition; ie Sakura-chan. Don't expect a 'Hai' in favour of a 'Yes' though.  
_SPELLING_  
Spelling discrepencies. Example: realise/realize, colour/color, etc. Though I appreciate my errors being pointed out.

**Foreword:**  
I'll be frank. This is an introduction chapter. It's okay to skim this.

* * *

**Fox Identity**  
by _Arkhe_

**Chapter One:** A feeling you can't put your finger on.

It was a bright, new day. The sun's rays had glazed the rooftops and bathed it in a golden hue. Trees rustled as a few soft breezes weeved between the forests and buildings. Birds fluttered, animals skittered and the village's many inhabitants started filling the streets.

Today was the beginnings of a new promise in Konoha; the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

Though...

A blond boy, clad in a glaringly blue and orange ensemble, stood on the Village Monument. Poised and ready, his gaze stretched over the whole city presented before him. Withdrawing a notepad and a pencil, he quickly jotted down some numbers and then a quick sketch of the view before pocketing them in exchange for a paintbrush.

This day, he'd make History.

* * *

"Do you know who these people are?" 

"Well, yeah... They're the Hokages..."

"And you came ALL THE WAY UP HERE, just to DEFACE them?-!"

"Well, they all look so serious..."

"IDIOT!"

**WHAP!**

Naruto hung his head low and rubbed at the sore spot at being hit. Turning away and grumbling, he afforded himself a smirk whilst his face was out of view from his teacher. Instinctively, he felt a pocket and was satisfied at feeling the bulge of the notepad from before.

Iruka (completely unaware of his student's hidden agenda) had his heart strings pulled by Naruto's crest-fallen look. The act of vandalism had triggered memories of his own lonely and wreckless youth. Acting on a whim, he had decided to treat Naruto to ramen to push down the encroaching depression, to which Naruto accepted whole-heartedley.

* * *

The chuunin teacher looked on, amusement was written on his face as he nodded every so often at his present company's one-way conversation. Once in a while, he would also consume another portion of his ordered ramen before it got any colder. 

His company on the other hand, was multi-tasking to a heavy depth. Eating the third bowl of ramen and raving about ridiculous stories to his teacher aside, Naruto's mind was very much elsewhere. Currently, it was going over the Taijutsu he was learning at school and chaotically comparing it to a handful of other styles he had witnessed (whether first hand or by text book), as each cluttered thought he'd imagined, jumped to different and unfocused tangents.

Now, how his body and mind could act so independently, could be attributed to years ago when he had just learned _that _secret of Konoha.

The one that which no one should speak of.  
The reason of being the bane of everyone's existence, subjugated to humiliation and isolation, time and time again.

_He was the Nine-tails._

The 'whiskers' birthmarks, those red slitted eyes and a dead sealed Fox aside, Naruto still wasn't secure with the solidity of this development and pursued much research and self theological debate until he felt he had an explanation with the combination of all the facts he could find.

'When he had been the demon, he had underestimated the strength of the Hidden Village of Leaf and thus the Fourth Hokage had somehow mustered an enormous effort to seal him away.

Possibly outright ridiculous, if the very history of the various ninja wars before the peace pacts weren't considered.All shinobi nations would fight for control and it would be no surprise should any (if not all) villages strive to attain such incredible powers at their disposal. Oddly enough, all of the greatest of demons had disappeared one after another during the wars, so it shouldn't be surprising if there were people strong enough to seal them. In Naruto's own surmised words; _No more demons around and the Leaf managed to catch one. Who's to say these things aren't catchable?_

Adding the apparent legend of the Fourth's unsurpassed strength (and oddly missing name) to this day, the idea of sealing away the body of the Fox, but giving the soul human form, isn't so ridiculous in retrospect.

Then from there, assuming the Third won't dispose of him in his most vulnerable stage, he would rationalise this demon-child's potential as a weapon of the village and would instill into him the need to defend the village.'

_...What a joke of an already lowly existence._

Vowing revenge for such an outrage, Naruto began focusing on training his stamina so that someday, he would have an unrivalled chakra well to allow his vengeance fruition. After all, quite the amount of chakra is needed to decimate an entire village of ninjas.

However, because of his 'unique' background, Naruto had to undergo a dramatic change to not draw suspicion.At first, it begun on drawing on annoyance, now that he had no reason to try being civil. He'd slowly come to associate class-clowns to be a sort of social-outcasts. With the combination of pranks and his already growing annoying attitude, he slowly and painfully engineered the facade of a cheerful, energetic, loud-mouthed idiot from pure observation of such influence alone. In time, this behaviour had easily become routine; requiring little thought whatsoever on his part. In this state, his mind would be free to mull over things and analyse to such a degree that he could create 'lucky' or 'unlucky' instances on a clumsy whim.

Thus leads this thought back to present-day Naruto, who was now theorising of how to create a solid replication, though he was vocally expressing how he'd someday make an awesome technique that would beat the snot out of anyone in an instant, make 2 minute ramen in 1 minute and fetch him his slippers.

Iruka had finished eating just several minutes ago, though Naruto had somehow beaten him hands down, with seven bowls as compared to his one.

With an eighth bowl disappearing rapidly, the panicking teacher intercepted his student from having another bowl to which would add yet another dent into his own wallet.

"Okay Naruto, that's enough."

"Awwww... Iruka-sensei!"

Watching his teacher pay for the meals, Naruto couldn't help but wonder why Iruka felt obligated to do so. A while back, his stamina training had required more food where his meek allowance fell short. It wasn't long before his growing appetite turned his meals into rationing and it showed during some classes at the academy. This was what first led Iruka to 'befriend' him, to which Naruto quickly acted to milk the situation. He was surprised when the Chuunin educator continually offered to treat him on such expensive outings! The acts had been a saving grace to allow steady progress of his stamina, so despite being unable to comprehend his teacher's obligation, but not wanting to push his luck, Naruto kept it up and let his teacher think whatever he wanted to think.

Iruka, on the other hand, had been boggled about where all that food went. That thought was really a distraction from the severe sum he found himself paying for both meals and the meals prior, but really, who's counting?

Not dwelling on their respective subjects, both teacher and student bid each other farewell and went their separate ways.

* * *

Upon arriving at his humble abode, the sole Uzumaki had decided to finish the task he started earlier that day. Removing what looked to be shoddy repairs on his couch, actually turned out to be a mangled-looking box containing folders and scrolls. 

He'd idly leafed through a few, "Yamanaka... Aburame... Inuzuka..." Naruto would tick off in his mind, before seemingly at random, procurring a folder and bringing it to the table, whilst withdrawing the notepad from the morning. Flicking through various entries, he finally came across the latest; a brief overhead sketch of the main Hyuuga compound and the number of windows he had seen.

Opening the folder held several pages of information -pertaining to various notable names of Hyuuga Main House and Branch House members (or in the cases of some, a facial summary where a name wasn't present), as well as a small scroll outlining several moves of their training style. The combination of all information present, now allowed Naruto a hypothesis for an architectural blue print of the compound -which will prove undoubtedly invaluable much later down the path.

See, the meagre beginnings of the plannings had started as an unconscious reaction as to when Naruto began playing pranks and seeing people other than himself suffer. It was after failure after failure of prank after prank did Naruto begin a mental composition of how to set up the pranks with the focus to escape without being caught. Soon, his thoughts were put to paper and the details required grew with each new and extravagent trap. Eventually, he'd felt he needed to expand his mapping to more important places, as he felt he might have to deal with said people eventually.

Back to the present, though in the midst of copying the information, Naruto had paused, idly offering a silent prayer, that this new research wouldn't prove useless... Like that time when he had finished compiling the whole Uchiha district and then that one guy decided that it was a good day to kill everyone...

Well, though it did make his revenge that little bit easier, it would take the fun out of shoving off a respected household.

* * *

The following day had been struck with inspiration. Naruto had just been called to the front of the class to demonstrate Henge no Jutsu -a transformation technique he had first pawned off as ridiculous when he learned it last year. In his spare time, he had furthered the theory by creating an alternate technique to _actually_ physically alter his appearance, instead of its mere illusion base. But on its completion, he berated himself for forgetting what would happen should anyone find out he was capable of a real transformation instead of creating an illusion of one. 

But if he should somehow degenerate it to a point where everyone would overlook it...

Standing infront of the class, a certain blond fox's eyes narrowed in mischief. Oh yes, just his luck that his new technique will make its debut today...

"Sexy no Jutsu!"

* * *

The Genin test had come around later that day for the Fox-boy and time had slowly rounded to his turn. In an effort to test his teacher's keen sense of observation, he focused on creating an odd bunshin. This clone looked just like a dummy in Naruto's clothing and had effectively fallen to the floor like one would without a proper way to keep it standing. 

He had been successfully failed.

As Naruto stepped out, he slapped his forehead at just how dense his teachers could be. Clearly he has a good measure of control to create an illusion to even look like AND act like that. A real failure would create a clone that would be semi-transparent, the features wouldn't be as accurately synonymous to a real dummy and it wouldn't act like a real dummy would. For crying out loud! The dummy had a crusting, painted smile on its less-than polished, wooden face!

Oh well, he resigned and started in the direction of his back-up plan...

"Naruto..."

...until he had been stopped by Mizuki; a teacher's aid to Iruka and the second judge of his test performance. The man then offered a proposition for an 'alternative' way to become genin -to which Naruto unthinkingly accepted with great enthusiasm.

After parting, Mizuki watched the boy turn a corner and was gone. Making his way down an alley to his own home, the traitorous ninja finally was able to laugh out loud at seeing how easy it was to trick the demon-boy into doing his dirty work! He'd be long gone before the Anbu would get on his trail and the little bastard would get what he deserves!

Just down a few streets, Naruto was barely holding down his bubbling excitement. He had been planning to sneak a peek at the team rosters and a 'breeze' might just mix up student names. When the lucky best of the best team of two were set, he would show up at Iruka's doorstep tonight and correctly perform Bunshin. But finally putting his fighting skills to the test and learning some forbidden techniques... He couldn't have planned it better!

With a skip in his step, a certain teacher thought he had pulled the wool over the village's eyes, whilst a certain Fox-boy grinned at knowing he had actually pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.

It was mutually decided that life would be good this night.

* * *

Stopping at the meeting place for the traitor, Naruto laughed at having his new technique proved priceless at attaining the scroll from the Hokage himself! He would have gloated on it further but time being as short as it was, he retrieved a small bag hidden beneath the roots of a nearby tree. Removing a cheap camera from within, Naruto began taking photo after photo of the various writings of the scroll, briefly skimming the contents as he did so. The various polaroids had twisted in mid-flight, landing ungracefully at his feet. 

Indeed, the Scroll lived up to its name; the _'Scroll of Seals'_ , though he had been initially disappointed. All the seals didn't have set instructions to perform them, but instead, were vague in the linear notes of the theories of how they are possible -even the ones that are in constant use now. Which probably meant that the scroll was intentionally indistinct should it be stolen.

Groaning at the additional effort, Naruto continued at his task letting the information sink ankle-deep in his head. Finally he came across a few of the more useful sort; a person-summoning/calling/teleport technique would be useful and that seal posing as a Dojutsu; an Eye Technique was rather interesting. Boasting an ability to project fear into a person, paralysing them, Naruto vowed to learn this aptly named 'Killing Intent' technique soon. The ability to summon Shinigami; the God of Death himself was also enticing, though Naruto had been put-off by having to exchange his life in this transaction.

Then there was that one Ninjitsu. He rolled his eyes at the absurdity of having a _ninja technique_, in a scroll meant only for _Seals_. Funny enough, the technique was considered forbidden, even at the Jounin level! The excited Foxboy read the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu with growing amusement... Yes, it would do him a world of good to learn this 'Shadow Replication' (-he mused that the only person you can count on, is yourself). There was even the possibility to master it this very night! Taking the reins back, he let his control return to the task at hand.

Excitement rushing in his veins, Naruto moved on to the last Seals and began reading the description...  
And his blood ran cold.

For in his very hands, lay the foundation of how he had come to be.

_The 'Four Seasons Seal'._

He drank in the sight. It was now entirely probable that he could reattain his original body!

Snapping out of his reveree, he took the last of the photos, put them into the bag, replacing it into its hiding spot and immediatley threw himself into learning the Shadow Clone.

Had Naruto been more observant, he would probably have been more intrigued at the prospect of the last Seal...

The one with little to no information about the shape of a Spiral.

* * *

His breathing was haggard.  
His feet refused to budge.  
His hands clutched onto the scroll tightly.  
His body wasn't responding, but it was completely healthy. 

Naruto's mind was another matter altogether.

For years now, Naruto's 'idiot facade' easily had an auto-pilot switch. However, on quite alot of occasions, his body would pull out some emotions, to which his mind would quickly supress. Without a mentor to question as to what these things could mean, Naruto resorted to various forms of media to map them out. It wasn't long before he would find that these feelings were dangerous without dire self-control.

Right of this moment, a feeling welt up inside of Naruto. It was a feeling he was unfamiliar with, but it didn't stop him from condemning it as one that wasn't welcomed.

Just behind the tree Naruto leaned on, Iruka, all bloodied and strained for breath, had defended his student again from Mizuki.

"He's not... not a monster." Iruka gasped. "He's just like me..."

The feeling had grown stronger now. The attempt to supress it again had failed miserably and the tears came.

If Iruka hadn't shown up, Naruto would've beat Mizuki to an inch of his life and turned him in, citing a battle of luck on his side. But Iruka's appearance had changed things, having Naruto play his usual ignorant part. Despite the revelation (though second-hand to Naruto, it was the confirmation he needed), Iruka still came to Naruto's defense and had taken a hit meant for the boy. With a tearful expression, Iruka finally explained why he was drawn to the Fox-boy; they're in the same predicament. They're both alone. Both struggling without family to lead them. Both doing stupid things just so they could get attention. Any kind. Just as long as it pushed away at the hungering loneliness.

It was at this point that Naruto felt an emotion he had successfully dodged until now. Unable to quell it, he panicked and ran. Mizuki gave chase but Iruka again interfered.

"I know he's an excellent student. He's hard working and always gives his best. But because he's so clumsy... No one respects him. He knows knows what's it like to hurt inside..."

Choking Iruka from the inside, it was his wish to improve his life all those years ago and now, when he found the blond boy in the same predicament he himself was in, it tore at him to give that boy the chance he deserved; a chance Iruka had wanted his whole life. Nothing short of complete belief in his own words, the Chuunin lecturer was more than willing to sacrifice his life for that of his student.

"He's not a demon anymore... He's Uzumaki Naruo!"

Mizuki now understood that Iruka was an obstacle and concluded that his once comrade's life would now be forfeit. But Naruto would have none of that.

"If you lay a hand on Iruka-sensei... I'll kill you!"

* * *

"Congratulations Naruto..." 

Iruka smiled warmly to which Naruto tried to discern the foreign object tied to his forehead before it hit him. He had earned, not just a Genin headband, but HIS teacher's headband! If he had been thinking clearly, he would recoil at the thought of wearing the symbol of his adversaries, but for some reason, the thought had instilled other feelings that made him quite giddy. He let the pleasant sensation fan out and logical thought sat aside to bask in it.

It was a feeling that made him smile.

Iruka would always look back on this moment with great fondness. There was something about that smile that he couldn't explain. Unknown to him, it wasn't one of Naruto's fox grins, but the boy's first genuine smile he had given his whole life.

* * *

"Oi, Naruto. What're you doing here? This class is only for graduates." Shikamaru asked. 

"Hehehe!" Naruto pointed out his headband. "I know!"

Shikamaru blinked, surprised at the turn of events. However, finding it troublesome to go any further, he took the path with less effort and casually let the topic drop, walking off to return to his seat.

Naruto continued to grin, prideful on the reflections of the night before. But when it came to that emotion he couldn't name... He mentally shuddered at the thought of losing to it. The feeling had ran rampant and it severely handicapped his judgement.

A few minutes of mulling it over (and an incident involving another male student that only his idiot-mode could have gotten into), Naruto had finally let the musing to rest. He had altogether disregarded the thoughts, determined to not let it happen again. After all, he just showed he learned a forbidden technique, not to mention how he used it so effectively infront of his teacher. No doubt it would raise suspicions, but should he continue to play his part, no one would still be none the wiser.

Focusing back on the present, Naruto finally picked up on the inkling of doubt that pawed at the back of his mind. It continuously insisted that he had forgotten something and it was really starting to irk him...

It was at this moment Iruka entered carrying the necessary papers for the team rosters.

Oh... _That_.

* * *

Looking over his new teammates seating themselves on the rooftop of the academy, had Naruto really hate how unearthly powers stuck him with the worst possible team. Yes, he acknowledged that they were the highest scoring in the class, but still! He had heavily disliked the fact that his team consisted of a _head-in-the-clouds Kunoichi without a bloodlimit_ and _an egotistical ass with a COPYING bloodlimit_ (he admitted that wouldn't have been a bad thing if they trained together, but come on! -Any headway Naruto'd make would be undoubtedley stolen!). If only he had either the Hyuuga or Yamanaka girls, he could have picked up more on their arts... But no, he was stuck with the _ordinary girl_ and the _unoriginal boy_. _The unknowledgable duo._

_Pathetic._

Kakashi, however, had been a surprise. Though the teacher had failed all his teams before, Naruto knew of Kakashi's preceding reputation of being a master of a thousand techniques. Rationally, a thousand would be unlikely, but knowing techniques outside of the Fire element would most definitely prove to be useful. But the likelyhood of him teaching these techniques...?

_Feh. _

With everyone seated, their teacher had been first to break the silence.

"Okay, why don't you guys introduce yourselves? Go with name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams for the future, that sort of thing."

"Your our teacher, shouldn't you start?" Sakura interjected.

Kakashi regarded it coolly and accepted.

"Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are none of your business. I have alot of hobbies. As for my dreams, well..." And his mumbles just trailed off from there.

"So all we learned was his name...?" Sakura whispered incredulously. Naruto and Sasuke couldn't help but agree.

"Let's start with you then, pink-haired girl."

Sakura blanched but recovered quickly.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes and dreams are..." Her eyes trailed to the dark-haired boy beside her and she giggled. Kakashi rolled his visible eye.

"I dislike... Naruto." She said grimly, whilst Naruto acted accordingly. "And for my goal, I'll be a great Kunoichi someday!" _With the love of my life_, though she ommited the last part from being said out loud.

"Okay..." His team was looking pretty bad at this point, but Kakashi gave them the benefit of the doubt.

"And to the brooding guy." He pointed at Sasuke.

Sasuke bristled but started. "I am Uchiha Sasuke. I have few likes and dislikes and fewer hobbies. As for dreams..." He tilted his head down. "It's not really a dream. But an ambition." His eyes glazed.

"To kill a certain man."

Silence sat heavily, each person to their own thoughts. Kakashi reasoned that this team needed a major fixer-upper but still had a slim chance of passing.

"And you, the blond kid." Their new teacher finally deigned to move things on.

Naruto jumped excited. "Hey, I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like lotsa things especially Ramen! My favourite is Miso Ramen, but I also like Prawn and Pork and Beef..." He counted off on his fingers. Everyone rolled their eyes. "And I absolutely hate how long it takes for the Ramen to cook!"

Kakashi silently swore never to pass this team. They would need nothing short of a minor deity to get underway.

"And my dream..." Naruto paused, eyeing a specific structure in his line of sight. With a well-placed sudden jump, the genin landed lightly on the railing facing the Hokage monument.

"My dream..." He repeated a little wistful.

When he was younger and had just learned of his background concerning the Demon Fox, Naruto had set out to try to find out as much information as he could concerning his non-mortal heritage. What had surprised him was the information concerning both Gods and Demons. It did not have to be said that Gods were righteous and would bestow upon those who believed in them, but the information that had interested him were about the Gods who wreaked havok. How different were they to demons? Apparently very.  
Putting it into contrast with himself, he had wondered if perhaps now that he did not have a demon's body nor the allusions that came with it, he'd be able to gain something denied to his demonic half...

"You don't have to be so dramatic about it, idiot!" Sakura's shouting had stirred Naruto out of his thoughts. "We already know you want to be Hokage!"

Naruto briefly cast a look her way and turned his attention to the monument.

"Yeah... Hokage." He murmured.

He had briefly imagined the village burning to the ground and the Hokage monument silently watching with their chiseled solemn faces, unable to right the unfathomable chaos. Godhood would let you get away with alot of things and Hokage would probably be as close as a mortal ninja can get. It would just be a matter of time and research until it was feasable...

But they didn't need to know those details.

_End Chapter One._

Feedback, constructive criticism and flames welcomed.  
I'll take it like I'll take candy from a baby!_  
_

* * *

**Author's notes:  
**I have to admit; this is a terribly structured chapter. Luckily, I've managed to fix it from MUCH worse and revised it 6 times now. Though not completely satisfied, I am satisfied with it enough though. Anyone like to comment here? 

I'm confident the liberties I've taken (different dialogue, events shuffle) are appropriate. Hopefully, I've also made some sense of Naruto's progression, although I will outline it more as we go along. After all, we never knew all of his capabilities from the start.

About pairings... My idea would probably send the lot of you away and it started sounding cliche to me, so I'll stick with friendship and loyalties. Less messy.

One more thing... About the 'Sexy no jutsu', I've only seen either translations as that or the 'Seduction technique'. Is it 'Oroike no jutsu' in japanese? I can't find it in my dictionary.

Once again, feedback of all kinds are appreciated!

**

* * *

**

**FAQ Section  
**_**:For Answering Questions:  
**_A section for less common questions. **(removed July 13th '05)**

Special thanks to the following people:  
_kageryuunohakke  
naarrrruto  
Kazanoe  
Arnoldstrife  
Licht Sieger  
Kitsurumenokitsune  
The Gandhara  
granite69  
Ookami no Anubis  
G-Man  
RockFox  
BWFox  
Aura Bakura  
Wendys Triple Classic WITH CHE _

Thank you all for letting me know to keep going!

**

* * *

**

**Stats  
**'Classic WITH CHE **word counter'  
**Current Vers. 01.9 (4/5/06)  
01.7 (13/7/05)  
Fic: 4,249  
Notes: 348

_(Does not include stats)_

Have a Great and Happy day!


	3. Fox: 02 Outlining Goals

**Warning list**  
_COPYRIGHT_  
In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.  
YADA YADA  
You know the rest. Otherwise, refer to 1st chapter.

**Foreword:**  
Last chapter was focused on introducing the Naruto for this story. This chapter is the main focus piece for how the timeline changes and will introduce Kakashi, a bit of Sakura and a signette of Ino. Sasuke gets the short end of the stick this chapter but he'll get his piece soon enough.

* * *

**Fox Identity**  
by Arkhe

**Chapter Two:** Apprentice I / Outlining Your Goals

Today's air had a crisp smell, for it was a new day, full of new suprises, new starts and new horizons. Truly it was all blue skies and sunshine on this very day.

"You'll have to come at me with killing intent to win."

And with that one statement, the genin of Team 7's bubble was burst and a cloud was to start raining on their parade.

How are mere genin supposed to defeat a jounin?

The genin in orange however, regarded this statement with growing interest. He knew Mizuki had been a chuunin caught by surprise and considered how he would fare against a jounin. Deciding on wanting to begin now (on the premise that if his teacher isn't able to defend himself, then the man didn't deserve his title), he whipped out a kunai and rushed head on...

("NOTHING WILL STOP ME FROM BECOMING HOKAGE!" Was Naruto's idiotic obligatory war-cry.)

...Only to take one step and have his own arm-wielding kunai pointed into the back of his own head.

"Maa... I haven't even said to begin yet." Kakashi's voice complained from behind the astounded fox-boy.

Begrudingly, the genin eased his muscles. When his teacher was satisfied, he had let go of Naruto's arm and then indicated to begin the test.

Smoke immediatley flooded the vicinity and Kakashi was satisfied at how his team had dispatched to hide.

"Hey!"

Except...

"I don't think you're quite getting this..." The masked jounin remarked. He waved his hand in a circulating motion, futiley trying to gesture his student about remembering ninja ethics -namely hide.

Only Naruto had no reason to hide. He wanted a fight and was raring to get it (what happened before didn't count as he had telegraphed his moves).

When actually engaging his teacher in combat, he'd been thoroughly surprised; the cycloptic teacher had been quite fast paced at reacting -especially when all the attacks were directed at his blind spot. Naruto had penned it down as battle experience; something he himself was sorely lacking.

From here, Naruto had left himself open to take one of Kakashi's attacks. Namely, an asspoke that sent the poor fox-boy into the river. Fury brushed his thoughts at being humiliated like that and Naruto had employed his Kage Bunshin on the jounin; knowing full well that his knowing of this particular technique would become common knowledge. The stunned reaction had stroked the blond's pride, however when Kakashi had used Kawarimi to swap positions with a shadow clone, Naruto's interest waned and he purposely messed around until the test ended.

Watching the preceedings had been a curious item. Whilst he had pulled out of the game and consequently ended being strung up, Naruto couldn't help but feel something had slipped him by. His research into genin teams years ago had him learn about this test -a test to find out whether a genin team was ready for jounin tutelage. He was unable to get the information out of his prior classmates and it was only now he that he experienced it that he learned about it.

But something didn't add up.

He knew Genins were put into teams of three, yet Kakashi had said that someone would still fail. But he knew of people who went into the test and the ones who graduated stayed in the same teams and not mixed into the theoretical amount of people who got a bell.

Meaning...

It hadn't been a test of skill.

Naruto had furrowed his eyebrows, finding there was more to this test than what he had expected. In retrospect he should've known, but was quick to shrug it off, as now that he fails, he would be able to ensure a better team and then prepare to pass for that test.

Leave it to Sasuke to shove a snack in Naruto's mouth to have the team barely pass Kakashi's test.

And so, Team 7 begins the D-Rank Missions.

* * *

"Gardening is boooooooooooring!" Whined Naruto. 

The team had winced. They had all unanimously agreed with their loud team member, but none did so vocally.

"Shut up, idiot." Said Sasuke.

Once again the team had winced and there was another unspoken agreement about their dead-last teammate.

Naruto muttered some obscene language under his breath and continued to pull out more weeds. Though seemingly unwittingly, he did note to pull out some herbs out of spite for the (fox-hating) owner.

* * *

"I really, really don't like dogs..." Naruto growled. 

"Fool. Serves you right for picking the biggest dog." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

The dog Naruto had chosen to walk had turned the tables on him and instead the dog had taken Naruto for a walk...

...Through a chuunin training ground.

Though the dog emerged fine, Naruto looked like he had been one of the academy's test dummies for a long duration.

Bringing the dogs back was a quiet affair and though Naruto had a frown on his face, it was only for show as he revelled in learning that his academy genjutsu had worked into coercing the dog into taking him through the training field (as he was unable to test it on anything else if he were to keep with his role). Though happy with the mind trick, he felt a little disappointed with his endurance, as it fell a little below his expectations when he had purposely set off a number of traps in the test area.

The dog served his purpose without bringing suspicion to his plans and so he decided against giving it fleas like he had originally intended.

* * *

**-Whoosh-**

**-Thunk-**

"And that's why you're dead-last." Sasuke remarked about Naruto's last attempt at target practise.

"Shut up, jerk." Naruto spat.

The arrogant boy only smirked in response.

Kakashi looked up long enough from his perverted novel to announce that training was over and promptly disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

Sasuke had no reserve to leave with a word on his part, so he began his trek back home. Sakura saw her chance to ask him for an outting, to which he shut her out.

Awaiting Naruto's advances to replace her idol and just itching to brush him off, Sakura waited stiffly. When no such suggestions from her teammate came forward, she looked over to see that he was too busy beating on a dummy to even notice training was already proclaimed over. Thanking a minor deity for small conveniences, she had walked off to her own devices.

* * *

It's quite well-known that Hatake Kakashi's a genius. Sharingan aside, he had done exceedingly well without it for the half of his life he had yet to recieve it. Many people had attributed all his achievements as to perhaps the way he thought, or maybe he was striving hard for his father's sake and that was the drive to make him grow up quickly. True, all above contributed to Kakashi's successful career, but when it came down to it, there was one thing that the Hatake prodigy kept at his beck and call. 

Gut instinct.

It goes without saying that he could easily recall all kinds of rules and procedures, but he would truly shine when there was nothing holding him back.

It was rather unfortunate that only during that one mission with Obito he had favoured regulations over his instinct...

...And it had cost him the death of his dearest friend.

Well, perhaps they weren't exactly close friends before the mission, but it's said the strains of friendship can be measured how far one would be willing to go for the other. Clearly, in the time they knew each other, Obito went that one step further than Kakashi would have ever reciprocated. Nor now will the jounin ever get the chance to repay the debt.

And so it is ironically enough, it was his friend's eyes that allowed him a new look to the way he saw things. The Sharingan not withstanding, he saw a new appreciation for things. And with this new insight, he held close to his gut to make sure nothing would threaten these things as long as he had something to say about it.

And that's the reason why he was watching one of his students from afar. Granted, he'd observe his students from time to time outside team-related matters as to subtley get to know how they think and to take advantage of the knowledge to prepare them better. (Actually, the reason he would be late to meetings was simply to build teamwork between the members -even if it was against himself. Though this was his rationalisation for either taking his sweet time at the epitaph or giving him time to read his 'sweet' novels.)

But his gut had been rather adamant about the blond-haired boy still training at the field. It's been over a week and he'd spend more time observing the boy than any of the others simply because something had felt amiss...

Drawing blanks, Kakashi decided it was time to take a break from his look-out and return with a full stomach. After all, though a vessel, the boy was still a genin. With the distance between himself and the clearing ever widening, Kakashi couldn't help but think that it was that kind of irresponsible thinking that got Obito killed.

A few minutes later, Kakashi had been roof-hopping when he found himself joining the company of the other jounin teachers at the usual eatery that was quite popular among the more experienced shinobi. Inevitably, the subject of their teams had arisen.

"My team's gotten off to a good start." Kurenai said before pausing to take a small bite out of the simple cake she had ordered. "Inuzuka Kiba is kind of a hot-head, Aburame Shino is very single-mindedley focused and Hinata of the Hyuuga is self-destructively polite."

She again paused to take another prim bite, taking brief glances at her audience's eyes.

"Their problems are rather easy to solve, although they already get along pretty well only..." She winced at what was coming ahead. "They all have blood-limits and I'm quite stumped as to how I should be teaching them."

All the instructors within earshot nodded. They all knew exactly where she was coming from, as they'd all been there or atleast reminisced about the old days being in genin teams and considered how hard their own teachers worked for them. It was unanimously agreed that with tutoring those that had vastly alternate skills than your own, you just have to wing it, give it your best shot and hope it's enough. Families usually trained their children in their arts anyway.

Sarutobi Asuma bit off a piece of meat on his skewer and then pointed it the female jounin.

"Well, you sound pretty unlucky. I've got the Shika-Ino-Cho team. Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji. They all don't have a drive in training. Infact, I play shogi against the Nara all the time!"

For some reason (possibly known only to him), Asuma puffed his chest out, preening at the (disbelieving) attention.

"That's really not something to be proud of." Kurenai rolled her eyes and was quick to add under her breath. "I wonder if you even gave a test, or how they managed to pass it..."

The bearded instructor shrugged it off and turned to address the final person that made their company.

"How's your team, Kakashi?"

Kakashi was about to speak when his coffee and sandwich finally arrived. He thanked the waitress kindly with his standard happy, close-eyed nod and added the necessary additions to his beverage, ignoring the sandwich for the moment.

Kurenai paid extra attention to him, considering that she'd never seen this jounin without the mask and -of course- the cup to mouth movement required a drinking motion, that a barrier should not get inbetween, for it be successful. (Actually, you could say she was trying to look underneath the underneath.)

"Oh, just an odd group. Haruno Sakura, Sasuke of _that_ clan and _the_ Naruto."

The air had been pregnant with silence between the three.

"Damn."

Asuma found his voice and spoke what first came to mind. This response was the most obvious choice for this moment.

"Yep." Kakashi replied, now picking the mug up.

"Two missing nins and a vessel."

Kurenai added in her two cents. She was glad that she was up-to-date with this kind of knowledge (as being recently promoted to jounin had you privy to alot of new gossip restricted from below the rank), however she cursed at her lapse in concentration at the sight that now coursed her masked companion's face.

"Indeed." Kakashi nonchalantly took a sip from a straw that went underneath the mask.

"Did you know Itachi?" Asuma asked, completely missing whatever subtle event that took place.

"Not personally." Kakashi shrugged.

"I knew Sakura's aunt." The only female in the conversation interrupted. Both gave her their attention. "From what I can remember, She was the first Haruno since the establishment of the Leaf to become a ninja." She gave pause to a stray memory. "She was such a nice person. I don't think she ever became a missing-nin... In all honesty, I think she was one of the ninjas lost during that attack since I wouldn't know for the life of me why she'd ever leave the village." The lapse in concentration had cost her again.

"They say that her relationship had her go into hiding." Kakashi mumbled whilst chewing. His coffee now empty and straw sitting idly by, Kakashi waved his sandwich that procurred a bite-mark somehow, though his mask had not look to have shifted in the least.

"Relationship?" This was the first Kurenai had heard it. Thinking back on some old memories, she could swear she saw the now proclaimed missing-nin with someone else once or twice.

"I think I remember someone, but I'm not quite sure..." This time she made sure not to blink to miss the masked jounin's antics this time.

Kakashi dubiously averted his gaze, considering his next choice of words. Both Kurenai and Asuma leaned in. Although the male of the listeners had already heard the rumors, he knew if it was coming from Kakashi then it was likely that they were true.

Kakashi moved his sandwich to his face but then was surprised to find his mask blocking the exchange, as if he had forgetten he was wearing a mask at the time. Looking up to see both teachers staring expectantly and a little surprised themselves, he (assumedley) grinned awkwardly.

"Sorry bout that, I forgot I keep it on."

Kakashi proceeded to wrap his sandwich up with a napkin and added it to one of his vest pockets. Kurenai twitched an eye, completely unbelieving of the events, but she put it aside as to hear about what had happened to her old aquaintance.

"You see, she was seeing..."

But before Kakashi could continue, his eye had caught someone at the edge of his vision and stopped.

"Speak of the devil..." He murmured before he casually waved back.

His present company turned to see who he was adressing.

* * *

Kakashi seemed a little dazed, but he gladly gave a little wave right back at Haruno Sakura. 

The generic thought of _'Who knew that teachers had private lives outside teaching?' _crossed the little pink-haired ninja's mind, as does all students who meet their teachers outside any type of educational premise. Then she turned to continue along the district when...

"Forehead girl." A voice came from behind.

Sakura's back stiffened.

"Ino-pig." She replied just as curtly.

The blond girl's (presumably Ino's) eyes narrowed and she eyed her adversary warily.

"Well, I hope you're not up to gorge on something. Your waist looks bigger from the last time I've seen you." Said Ino haughtily.

Sakura recoiled but was quick to repay the debt.

"Were you talking to me or perhaps to your reflection in the window?"

Lightning flickered between the two as neither was determined to back down from the challenge...

**-Growl-**

...That is, until both their stomachs simultaneously voiced their independant opinions.

"W-well I'm sure that place nearby d-doesn't pack pounds." Ino had managed, her face a nice shade of red at the unexpected outburst.

"Y-yes. I-I agree. I'm sure their dumplings are practically f-fat-free." Sakura stuttered, her actions mirrored her blond counterpart.

And so, they both made their wounded pride way to do something about their complaining organs.

Now it's generally known that the Yamanaka and Haruno girls have been rivals for a number of years now. It's a little less known that both girls started off as friends prior to their rivalry and that a certain Sasuke is the cause of it (as is the cause of many a several other strained relationships).

Now, what's not known is that despite their differences in showboat distaste for the other, is that their rivalry only extends to either the previously mentioned Uchiha survivor or ninja training. So despite all appearances, they are, in all terms of the word, (sort of) friends.

Thus, now they had seated themselves at the same table and proceeded to order. Of course, leave it to rivalry to also affect how they order as not to show weakness to the other.

"I'll have two pork buns and a glass of water, please." Ino went first. She briefly glanced at Sakura, making sure that her pink-haired rival waswatching her before hastily adding. "The second bun for take-away. For my brother."

"And I'll have some steamed dumplings." Sakura chose then decided on adding a drink. "And a glass of cola." She saw her friend raise an eyebrow at this. "Diet cola, that is."

After jotting down the notes, the waitress left and some of the tension drifted, allowing for small talk between the competing ladies. By the time the food arrived, they'd both were now speaking on common subjects like that of boring D-Rank missions, lazy teammates and even lazier teachers, training and 'Sasuke did this the other day'...

"He did! Aaaawww... I wish I was there to see that!"

"Haha, it was something alright!"

"Doesn't mean anything though. This seperate teams thing is a setback, but it doesn't mean Sasuke and I aren't destined for each other!"

"In your dreams! Sasuke's mine already, you just haven't caught on yet!"

"Fat chance! Sasuke would only look at you if you're a real ninja!"

"Well, good thing my uncle got me the new top-of-the-line Kuna..."

"...Something wrong?"

"My kunai! I must've left them at the training site!"

Sakura abruptly stood up.

"I'm really sorry, but I got to get them! Naruto was last there and if that weirdo found them, he would probably add them to some sort of stalker-shrine of me!"

Ino chuckled (though the irony of themselves having shrines to their 'beloved' flew right over their heads). Sakura then pulled out a couple of bills to cover her meal and started for the exit.

"Well, you best hurry then! I'll see you later!"

"Take care!"

* * *

When Sakura finally arrived at the training area, she was surprised to see her blond teammate was still there, still in a one-man war against his perpetual motionless-foe (suffice to say, though both combatants were quite haggard, Naruto's more sluggish movements had made it look like the dummy edged the boy out in endurance). 

She took a moment to pause in her search for her weapons to eye her teammate warily. Though it was admittedley cute that he had a crush on her, it was offset by the fact that he'd be annoying in any possible way and it's practically typical for him to just somehow spoil any type of 'alone time' she found with her Sasuke. Still, she had nothing against him personally and she (silently) respects his (loudly self-proclaimed) determination.

"Hey Naruto!"

He paused and turned to look at her. His eyebrows lifted and a grin replaced the serious barred teeth.

"Hey Sakura-chan!" He waved at her exaggeratingly.

It was then that Sakura had noticed the condition of his hands. They were heavily bruised and lightly bloody. The scabs weren't given a chance to form as he had abused it over and over. Gasping at the sight, she hurriedly reached into her pack for a roll of bandages. (Sakura's mother had been very adamant about treating injuries and illnesses, so it shouldn't be surprising that her daughter had taken after her in that respect.)

"Quick Naruto, hold out your hands!"

He did so without question and Sakura went about adding ointments before wrapping them up.

"You shouldn't over do it, Naruto..."

"No way! I'll keep practising and show that jerk just yet!"

Sakura stopped herself from correcting him about her handsome teammate.

"Yes, but pushing your body past what it can't handle is terrible. You might not heal right. Infections or even your chakra points in your hands will misalign or something."

It showed on his face that the explanation flew over his head but she saw him nod, grateful all the same. "Thanks Sakura-chan."

She smiled at his soft spoken expression. There were never times that he'd be quiet like this. Oh sure, he'd be quiet when he'd plot or when he'd sulk, but never when he'd just be content.

Without having much else to add to the small talk, she looked to the clouds. "Well, I think it'll rain tonight. You might want to head in."

"I can take my break later! I've got to keep practising to become Hokage someday!" He returned to pummeling the hapless dummy and Sakura saw it as a signal to take her leave.

It was only when she reached the edge of the clearing did she stop to watch him for a few more moments.

"You could learn a little from him, Sakura."

Startled out of her thoughts, she turned to the newcomer. "Kakashi-sensei?"

The jounin nodded in Naruto's direction. "On some days like this, he practises til he falls unconscious and stays overnight."

"You can't be serious!" Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"I am very serious. However, somehow he just doesn't improve as quickly as other people do. His stamina on the other hand is impressive. I dare say he would be quite the juggernaut should he master it."

Sakura had nodded and turned when she heard him shout out his prize technique; Kage Bunshin. She watched a little longer as just over a handful of clones unorganisedley attacked the dummy, some getting in the way of others and one had attached itself to the head of the dummy and bit down hard from on its perch. She giggled at his antics and looked to gauge Kakashi's action.

He wasn't there.

Seeing that he had left, she resumed back on her way.

Upon her leaving, a Naruto (the one biting on the dummies head) exploded causing a chain reaction of explosions from the remaining clones. Having confirmation from his replications that she wasn't watching, he launched back into his normal attack. The bandages turned red very quickly.

* * *

Unknownst to Sakura, the Hatake genius had stuck around, but settled from a different post to watch the Uzumaki boy from a distance again. The boy had him truly perplexed. The lunch break had allowed him some space for thought and he had come up with two theories. 

On one hand, Naruto was an idiot. Loud, crude, linear thinking and downright clumsy. He had glaringly obvious attack patterns and would more often than not, inflict more damage to himself than his opponent, but could still outlast them! The boy lacked direction but was determined to get to places. A dangerous combination.

On the other hand, Kakashi narrowed his eye, the boy was a genius. A very motivated, completely subtle and far more cunning than anyone on some level. None of this could be proven though, the jounin could only guess some possibilities considering he had based it solely on the genin knowing a forbidden jounin level technique inconjunction with his gut instinct. Just no solid evidence whatsoever.

Eventually, the Jounin shrugged it off. His book called to him and after watching Naruto do hours upon hours of punching the dummy, did he give the boy the benefit of the doubt and concluded that Naruto just might be a field-genius, evolving far more quickly in situations than he ever could with text. An Uzumaki were always known for that sort of thing.

* * *

When the jounin left, a few rocks surrounding the area exploded in a burst of smoke and Naruto finally made his move, leaving the training field. 

It had taken him the better part of just a little under an hour of tree-hopping before he found his destination; a clearing that hosted an old and extensively large tree with a sort of creeper sapling coiling itself around its host.

Naruto created a clone to turn into a bucket and used it to draw water from a nearby stream. All done with a ginger grin, focused on the results of the secret he had planted there 2 weeks ago.

Some few days after the Mizuki incident, he'd read across some simple instructions about a certain set of seals.

Particularly how to add an element to a weapon.

The scroll had been vaguely specific, but he had reasoned that the method was common (high-class) ninja knowledge and it was only the method of how to make specific (and powerful) result was what each Hidden Village adheres to keep secret.

So, though the art should technically take years to make, Naruto had planned shortcuts he had access to. For example, a most effective weapon would require the element to be infused long before the blade is made and then infused time and time again for each time it is molded, until it is its final product. In this sense, a blade with a burning edge could be made by adding liberous amount of fire and sealing flames into the unmolded metal, then careful manufacturing of the metal into a sword, whilst adding more heat and fire techniques throughout the molding process. Tada! A sword with a fiery edge!

In Naruto's case, he alternated the method a little. He reasoned that if a weapon can be sealed with an element, then why can't an element be sealed with a weapon? His reasoning was to swap the key ingredients around; much alike having the fire and molding a weapon out of that. Thus a fire with a wieldable sword-like edge! It was sort-of the same effect in the end!

With all this in mind, Naruto purchased a second-hand kunai that had seen many a battle (as it would be more subjected to chakra coursing it) and wrapped some silk around the handle that had been soaked in water meshed with chakra. From there, he'd located a sapling-creeper plant, that grew quickly and an age old tree to host it. Then he'd bury the kunai at the roots of the creeper so that it would theoretically absorb the chakra from the kunai and slowly become attached to it, possibly merging with it.

That was a little over 2 weeks ago and since then, Naruto had returned here to pour it water and chakra every day. And just like every day, the plant danced ever so faintly to the whims of a breeze that wasn't there, whilst tightening its grip around the tree.

A little excited at the development, Naruto was still a little disappointed with the speed of the progress. At this rate, the weapon would only be halfway decent by the end of the year! Having to pay so many visits would undoubtedley bring up unwanted attention, so it would be in his best interest to try to finish this project within a handful of months. No need to risk his life over something that wasn't working.

So Naruto decided to play his short-cut card.

His eyes turned slitted as he called on the red chakra. Years ago, he'd already learned to tap into the seal to pull red chakra out for his benefit. It was always signalled with the tinting of the eyes and would also give him minor boosts in Taijutsu as well as a little faster healing rate. He'd never dare to test how much he could pull out, as the village might be a tad sensitive towards sensing demonic chakra -as was the case now.

He then he pulled away Sakura's bandages and swiftly drew a kunai over his unprotected wrist. When the cut bled freely, he held it over the creeper.

The instantaneous effect had been amazing but almost beautifully dangerous to behold.

If the earlier movement had been likened to that of a whimper, than the results now were akin to that of a scream. The blooming green foliage had tinted to an ominous red, leaves shed and buds grew and the tendrils wrapped itself further around the tree, squeezing like that of a deathly forbidden embrace.

Naruto couldn't help but be very impressed. His corner cutting had done better than he had predicted! And so he repeated shedding blood again and again, encouraging the sapling to grow and grow. It was only when the effects slowed down, did he take it as a symbol to stop.

He stood back and admired his work. Before today, it would appear the creeper was merely a growth, hugging at the age old tree as something perhaps looking up to it; a guardian for the little plantling. But now it appears differently. Now it appears more to be a parasite; the red leech wrapping its vines in a deceitful and painful hold. In the coming months, it will eventually overwhelm the tree, choking the life out of it until there was nothing left to take and then it would start choking the others out of its reach.

Then it should be ready for harvesting.

Naruto gave a nod and made a quick mental note to change his cultivating schedule accordingly and left satisfied for the day, heading back to his original training area to pick up where he left off.

By the time he arrived, it was fast approaching nightfall and the genin dug into his stamina training with vigor. The first few minutes were fine but he was starting to notice the signs of faint. Looking to his bandaged hands from earlier and then his wrist, it had sunk in that he had lost more blood than he really should've gave.

Without time to get home, Naruto retrieved his canteen and downed as much water as he could before unconsciousness takes him. It was mere seconds later he keeled over trying, and failing, to keep himself upright using the dummy as support. But he was content with all of his accomplishments coming along nicely and that everything would be right with his world soon enough.

Though, he could stand to keep more blood next time.

* * *

When looking to describe Sakura, one is quick to remember that she is kind and cordial to her family, friends and generally anyone she comes across. The exception being her temper, raised against those that really grate her nerves. This kind attitude of helping others and rough-housed competition has helped her excel to vast heights. This is in reference to her most obvious attribute her intelligence and analytical thinking. Because of this, she had graduated second to the top of her class (second only to Sasuke) and around third in her graduating year. 

Though it's a feat for the amount of information she digests daily, it is because of a certain trait that had aided her kindness and competitive style is the real reason of why she's so knowledgable.

The reason behind this reasoning is her simple curiousity.

It's the reason why she knows of the brink of war all the Hidden Villages are planning for.  
It's the reason why she knows of Kakashi's preceding reputation.  
It's the reason why she knows of Sasuke being the last survivor of the Uchiha Clan.

But she still doesn't know the reason of Naruto's 'never say die' attitude.

So when the sun had long since set and Sakura was starting to prepare for bed and she happened to look outside, catching the moon just before it hid behind some thick, foreboding clouds, she briefly thought of rain and it reminded her of her meeting with Naruto earlier, followed by Kakashi's claim to her teammate's training regime.

And her curiousity got the better of her.

The pink-haired ninja then donned some of her usual ninja garb and (out of habit) retrieved her pouches. She was still attempting to pack more bandages and kunai and reaching the front door when an obstacle had appeared before her exit. Namely, her mother.

"Where are you going at this time?" The Haruno matriarch asked.

Knowing that it would be a bad idea for her to be out at this time for any boy, the younger Haruno female paused, considering what would make a more appropriate answer.

Luckily, her mother answered for her when noticing the various implements she was in the middle of storing.

"Training tonight? I guess I shouldn't wait up for you, daughter." She assumed. "Don't forget the bandages and ointments."

Not wanting to push her luck, Sakura hastily agreed and left.

Doubt had wedged itself firmly into her mind that Naruto would still be there at this time but she trudged on, firm on the decision _'just to see'_. Her curiousity spurned her forwards and if he (likely) wasn't there, she'd just sneak back into her home. Yep, just get over there, _'whoops stupid me, he's not here'_ , and head ba-...

Sure enough he was still there and unconscious at the dummy's base.

"Oh Naruto... After all that, you still lost to a dummy." She quietly admonished.

She changed his bandages and was surprised at how fast he had healed, but she penned it down to Hinata passing by and giving him some her of home-made cream. A smile played on her lips as the thought of how the shy Hyuuga girl would go about giving it to him, stuttering and turning red as a tomato.

Once done, she then thought to just leave him there overnight, knowing full well that it was pretty normal for him to do that. The loud rumble overhead pulled on her conscience and she tried to wake him. Seeing how it wasn't working, she grabbed him by his arms and manuevered under him, as to give him a piggy-back for her long trek to his home.

On more than one occasion along the way, did Sakura wish she had knew Kage Bunshin too.

* * *

The reverberation of movement and the sound of footsteps had caused Sakura to return to the waking world. Blinking away the sleep, she was at first confused with her surroundings up until she remembered that after the tiring effort of bringing Naruto home, the rain had started. Without an immediate umbrella in view, Sakura sat to relieve her aching muscles and went to close her eyes for a second. Needless to say, she accidently closed her eyes until morning. 

Sitting up, her eyes scanned the room, noting how a handful of Naruto clones had set out doing a number of tasks. One was making breakfast, another was assisting the former with relative jobs like setting a plate and utensils, another was going through some paperwork and the last was starting on cleaning.

The cleaning one had approached the couch to straighten some cushions when it froze, staring at Sakura wide-eyed. Another had sighted the unexpected guest and it, too, froze. Eventually the rest had caught sight of her and stuck rooted to their posts.

The real Naruto had finished with using the bathroom and stepped out to the living room entrance. He already wore his standard orange and blue garb and was in a completely clean, albeit linearly focused state. All the clones realised his entrance and went back to their designated jobs. Naruto hadn't made any effort to greet Sakura or perhaps he just didn't notice her, as he continued to the open space between the kitchen and lounge area. Upon getting to the middle, he had moved into a practise stance.

The movement had Sakura move a hand to cover her mouth. She recognised it as a stance of the Jyuuken; the Gentle Fist! Mesmerised at the sight, she watched on silently as Naruto correctly went through a few motions of attacks with his eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration. She felt the tell-tale signs of chakra being used in some of his motions and wondered if he really did pick up on the fighting form reserved only to the Hyuugas.

"You know the Jyuuken?" She couldn't help but exclaim while he was halfway through practise.

"SAKURA?-!"

Inwardly, Naruto's mind had gone a mile a second, cursing up a storm. Quickly trying to take hold of the situation, so he strived to backtrack for how and why Sakura was here.

His mind was quick to regret giving his clones separate commands instead of the standard mental connection -but who could blame him? He didn't want to know how he had to control how something should be cooked or even which way this should be scrubbed when he could set them to automatically do things he would have done they he he'd done. Thus, when he created these clones with specific tasks in mind, he never expected anything like this should happen. Then he himself had overlooked her when starting his ritual morning practise and his mind was more focused on the results of the day before. He never expected her to be here nor did he ever pay her any attention aside from what his stupid side required of him.

So when his thoughts resulted in a blank, his final effort to get his rising panic under control, Naruto turned to the closest clone who (in an effort to help) held up the frying pan, showing clearly more than the regular amount of food it had cooked.

"Hey, uh, want some breakfast or something?"

Much to her chagrin, Sakura's stomach had agreed loudly (a thought about that happening too many times lately flitted briefly). Letting her question slide in favour of immediate satisfaction, she settled at the table with the real Naruto. The chef-clone began serving and she boggled at the food at the table. Scrambled eggs, bacon, miso soup, rice and toast with it's compliment of half a dozen condiments!

"This is alot of food!"

The chef-clone had taken the time to throw a grin her way. It was easily assumed that the clones out of view were throwing her the same smug expression too.

"Well, breakfast is the important meal of the day." Naruto stated, helping himself to a serve of eggs, bacon and rice.

Sakura took the cue to start with something familiar to her own mornings; toast. Though she did help herself to the more exotic jams her own home did not stock.

The pause to eat allowed Naruto more thought on this... situation. Sakura now knew too much and he would be compromised. Unless he somehow finds a way to open his seal soon, his mortal body would not last in the midst of a village of ninjas. Racking his mind for a solution, he found that there was still a way to stop word from getting out... And that involved his hands getting dirty.

Instinctively, his doppelganger handed him a glass of milk to which Naruto gratefully downed to try to drown out that distasteful thought.

Sakura had finished two pieces of toast before looking over to see Naruto gulp down a glass of milk in one sitting. Their serving clone had noticed her eyeing the glass and went to offer her a beverage. She accepted, and despite her wishfulness on staying true to her diet (her own family never had extravagent breakfasts) she settled for a little indulging and took a bowl of Miso as well.

Sipping delicately, her thoughts had reviewed that up until now, she went with the flow trying to figure out where this Naruto fit. Seeing Naruto imitating a prestigious fighting form, making clones first thing in the morning and one was now serving them breakfast was just insane! If Naruto was really capable of all of this, just how much was he hiding?

Finding her resolve, she went on to ask her previous question.

"So, how do you know the Gentle Fist?" She asked right after she finished the last sip of her soup.

"I don't know the Gentle Fist. You must be imagining things." He replied grimly, wishing she'd drop it and forget everything.

"I know that's the art! I've practised with Hinata a few times!"

With her accusation hanging stale, her eyes directly on the boy infront of her, Sakura didn't see the other clones tense. However, the hair on her neck began to prickle.

Naruto demurely placed his chopsticks down and his eyes lifted, looking deep into hers.

"Okay, I only know the bits of the style and what it's supposed to do, easily enough. The Byakugan lets someone attack the Inner Coils and with little chakra to waste. Without it, attempting the same thing would be stupid, since it's hard enough to pinpoint the Inner Coils by normal means and near-impossible when in a fight..."

Sakura nodded. He was right so far. She motioned him to continue.

"The thing is, without that, I can't see how to do the same effects, so I'm still experimenting. I've also seen enough people practising the Gentle Fist to do similar moves and I'm figuring counters should I ever fight them."

He neglected to mention that he'd heard of the 'Chakra scalpel', a technique that required precise control to produce a cut inside the body without breaking the skin (which was undoubtedley engineered by a Hyuuga and adapted by non-Hyuuga medic ninjas) and when he'll eventually learn it, he would reverse-engineer it to redefine the style to his taste.

Nonetheless, his audience mouthed a 'wow' at the impressive lengths made to steal a prized fighting style under their nose! He hoped that she'd be awed enough to never mention it again. But just in case...

"You can't tell anyone."

She raised an eyebrow. "And if I do?"

Of course she knew what would happen. All hell would break loose at the knowledge of an outsider Genin stealing a prized family's art form. What she didn't know was that the fiasco would be much a bigger foray, considering this was the same demon-boy that knew it.

"You won't tell anyone." He stressed again, ice underlined his statement.

Sakura's survival instinct screamed at her to leave and she looked up to finally notice that the clones had surrounded her. Fear reached her eyes as she desperately tried to come up with a plan to leave.

"What i-"

"Sorry Sakura, but you've become a liability."

Her eyes widened at those words. They both stood at the same time and her hands went to start a handseal, her eyes never leaving his...

A Kunai stuck out of her neck. Her breathing becoming laboured. _Vision was going red. Naruto was pushing it in harder heart stopping chest feeling sopainfulworldspinning**cantbreathegoingtoDIE**_

Sakura gasped. Naruto hadn't moved an inch.

Her thoughts swam in circles. She was sure it felt real!

Naruto withdrew a Kunai and she moved to act. Her hands were only inches apart to complete the seal, allowing her to use Kawarimi, so WHY COULDN'T SHE MOVE IT?

"You can't move out of fear." He said, drawing close.

"What do you mean...?" Her voice came out hoarse, almost a whisper as her mouth was still locked in it's panicked vice.

"Your arms. I've stopped you with killing intent." He was standing infront of her now.

With tear-stricken eyes, she pleaded. "Please... Don't do this..."

He had merely frowned sadly. "I don't want to."

Tears streamed down her face. "Then don't..."

The kunai was now at chest level. "There's no other choice."

She took a shuddering breath as he closed her eyes for her and his arms started moving of their own accord towards her neck.

"Then train me."

And he froze. Stopping at the last action.

"Train me." She repeated again. "So that I can help you with your research."

"What?" Mostly confused and a little skeptical.

"Not only having two view points would help move things along quicker, but though I'm weak now, if you train me, I could become a good sparring and test partner."

Naruto calmly mused upon the girl infront of him. Everything she said rang true. Thinking back on it, he would have to revise his opinion on the ordinary girl. Ordinary meant she wouldn't have a one-up on him with any special bloodlimits. This was good when he requires a testing partner or a second opinion, as they would have a similar base of comprehension without complicating things on being too knowledgeable of what their bloodlimit was more privy to.

And if Sakura ever discovers him being the Fox Demon, the faster all his best laid plans fall to ruins. No... Not an _'if'_ but a _'when'_. She would undoubtedley find out some time.

But... Could he have a hold on her when the time comes...?

Coming to a conclusion, he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her rigid body to pivot to face him.

"Do you swear you won't tell anyone what I SAY or DO, to anyone?"

"Yes!"

"Do you swear you won't USE the techniques without my say so?"

"Yes!"

"Do you swear to uphold ANYTHING, I, as your teacher, say as law?"

Sakura had swallowed hard at the possibilities of the last one.

"Yes!"

Naruto took a deep breath, hoping that this gambit would pay off someday.

"Then I accept you as my apprentice."

Sakura grabbed her mentors hands and held them together, smiling.

"You won't regret it!"

They continued to stare into the others eyes knowing that something big would come about out of this, though Naruto hoped it wouldn't be something along the lines of a kunai in the back and a festival for doing so.

Naruto was first to break eye contact, bafflingly glancing at her hands that his acceptance had brought enough will to procure herself out of his technique, but he waved it off to get back on track.

"Time for some rules..."

Holding out a finger, he started. "Like what I made you promise, you cannot repeat anything you've learned from me, even if it's words or techniques without my permission. This goes especially for when we take the exams."

She nodded.

Two fingers up. "You can't let anything be traced back to me. And I mean anything. If you keep a diary..." A little bit of red crept up her cheeks. "You can't write down what we do. If someone asks, lie about it. If you're followed, don't lead them here."

Nodding on her part again.

Three fingers up. "Though I am now a teacher to you, you will not call me that. We'll just stick by our names so that we won't accidently say something else when we're not supposed to."

A little odd but she had no qualms, so again she nodded.

Four fingers up. "You can't act differently outside of us training." She tilted her head at this one. "Yes, that means you'll have to act the air-head around the ass-" She gave him a deathly glare. "-and reject me when I ask for dates or training. Don't hold back when you feel like hitting me then either."

An incredulous look but she nodded all the same (she'd later learn to abuse that rule whenever she was particularly angry with her mentor's teachings).

"Okay, once I decide how to train you, I'll find you and key you in the details. Now it's 6am and Kakashi'll be expecting us in an hour and a half. Don't be late." He motioned her to get out.

"What? That sounds like an excuse to blow me off for a while yet! The sooner I learn something, the better I can be for when we spar!"

A little taken aback at how easily Sakura had went from fear to joy and now threatening in a matter of seconds.

"Being seconds away from death, how can you act like this?" He had said what was on his mind. He needed to know at this point.

She smiled and her hands went behind her back.

"I already figured you won't do it." She replied a little snootly.

He folded his arms awaiting her to continue.

"I figured you can't kill me because an investigation would occur and they'd have to check on you since you're my teammate. Undoubtedly your neighbours might know or hear something and then there's still the possibility that someone saw me carry you home last night. It's too risky, so you'll have to do something like put me unconscious and sneak me back into my room!"

Naruto was very impressed. She had described his plan word for word. Except she missed the part about driving a stake through his head once people hear it was the teammate of the demon kid that got killed, but she wouldn't have known of that part.

"And when did you figure this?"

"When you froze me. You closing my eyes just set it in stone."

Naruto let a smirk cross his face. He had to give her credit for thinking so far ahead and acting so well.

"Perhaps you're more perceptive than I realised."

"You forget, I graduated second to Sasuke because I lacked stamina in Taijutsu!"

No, he couldn't forget that. He felt a little respect for her in that case. Second to the top of the class, without a bloodline.

"So c'mon! Teach me already! I need to become stronger for Sasuke!"

Naruto snorted. At a time like this and she feeds him an ulterior motive of doing so. For a boy no less!

"And I'm supposed to be the idiot." He muttered shaking his head.

She raspberried him indignantly and he chuckled. Giving in to her demands, he placed a foot on the wall. Followed by another, he kept on walking until he was looking at Sakura eye-to-eye at a 45 degree angle.

She said nothing, watching with great interest.

"The point is to put Chakra into your feet. Not too little or there's no traction, but not alot cause it'll damage the surface and push you away, so you probably shouldn't practise on a wall inside your house."

She processed it thoughtfully, as he made his way down.

"Do it enough and it'll help build your chakra. You'll need alot to keep up with me. Now get out. I've got alot to prepare for, especially now when I also gotta figure what to do with you."

Agreeing completely, the pink-haired Genin left elated on the idea that if she had advanced techniques under her belt, Sasuke would be sure to be impressed by her! Then there'd be love and then comes marriage and then a ninja baby in a baby carriage!

Somberly in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but feel that she made a deal with the devil himself.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto had closed the door and leaned heavily on it, not liking the turn of events. 

His 'relationship' with Sakura had been easy enough from the beginning. Just latch onto some girl who'd been nice to him and if her parents didn't follow it up, he'd stick with it. He'd seen it happen with multiple people and had easily discern that those types were the most annoying; thus it wouldn't look out of the ordinary of an idiot his age, as the ruse would keep well with his outward image.

Choosing to graduate where his age wouldn't be suspicious, Sakura had happened along and things became convenient. Then came graduation and he was on the same team as HER and he'd have to KEEP acting as the love-struck moron instead of spending that time 'getting over her'. And now...

The demon-in-man's clothing had brought a hand to his chest, wondering just how keeping his body on auto-pilot had become troublesome. In the past, his mind would not give a second thought to some of the body's reactions, but as of late...

He couldn't ignore it.

On occasions of when Sakura did him ill, there was brief twinges in his chest and of when she did him good, he could feel his heart beat faster. He had long since gone out of his way to bottle the emotions but his guard had broken when Iruka had came to his aid.

But just now...

When she was here...

His chest tightened just a little...

A little to an emotion he couldn't control...

The same emotion that engulfed him when Iruka defended him...

That rampaging emotion he couldn't identify that was threatening to become stronger...  
.

And it scared him.

_End Chapter Two._

Feedback, constructive criticism and flames welcomed.   
I'll take it like I'll like it take! (Err... Whatever that means)

* * *

**Author's notes:**  
I'm sorry this is so late. I got lost on the road to life. Literally. Applied to a (somewhat) prestigious University and got rejected. For people into certain anime, this is my third time as a Ronin (rejected twice by the same school in the same week!)... Doing the math? lol 

Back to the fic, again I'm still not sure whether I'm completely satisfied but I guess I'm satisfied enough. I've ended on an odd note but incase some of you are thinking **'OMG NARU-SAKU LUVVV I HATE J00!'** the feeling is actually a more 'friendship' and 'familial' base since Naruto would not know it since he never had any of that. But is it a Naruto-Sakura? Sorta. There'll be a little heat between them, but there's also Sasuke and I got to get him ship-shape in the coming chapters.

And is it just me, or is it easy to forget these guys are only 12? The vast amounts of related hentai says otherwise...

Also Sakura's confrontation here was originally more amusing. Not humorous, but amusing. Basically Naruto throws her out, she jams a foot in the door and they start a shouting match until she negotiates for him to train her. Of course, this didn't fit in, as the Fox would likely not respond in such a manner with someone who's a potential risk. This still needs a clean revision.

Okay, for the next chapter, expect an introduction to Sasuke and another for Sakura under Naruto's tutelage. I'll also possibly throw in Ino and others of the Rookie 9 for interaction pending but other than that, it'll end on Tazuna's entrance.

Once again, feedback is always welcome. Yes, throw me a negative curveball and watch me strike out!

* * *

**FAQ Section  
**_**:For Answering Questions:  
**_A section for less common questions. (Common questions can be referred to the FAQ in the prologue) **(removed August 13th '05)**

Special thanks to the following people;  
_Arnoldstrife  
__nameless _  
_Viky _  
_Licht Sieger  
__madnarutofan_  
_granite69 _  
_Quin _  
_Archangel Rhapsody_  
_G-Man _  
_SHoop shoop_  
_RockFox _  
_GOD OF HATE  
__omnikaze  
__kageryuunohakke _  
_Fei-sama_

Thanks for the support! All of you!

**

* * *

**

**Stats  
**'Classic WITH CHE **word counter'  
**Vers. 01.4 (14/7/05)  
Fic: 8,720  
Notes: less than 905

_(Does not include stats)_

Have a Great and Happy day!


	4. Fox: 03 Testing Waters

**Warning list**  
_COPYRIGHT_  
In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.  
YADA YADA  
You know the rest. Otherwise, refer to 1st chapter.

**Foreword:**  
This chapter has more on Sakura than Naruto. I've also added in Ino and Kakashi as guest stars. Oh, Sasuke definitely makes a light entrance next chapter. Definitely.

* * *

**Fox Identity  
**by Arkhe

**Chapter Three:** Apprentice II / Testing the Waters

It was early.

Too early.

It was so early that only the most annoying of birds were chirping at a time when the sun didn't even rise yet.

For most denizens of any country, this would be an ungodly hour. To ninjas, most jobs tend to start at this sort of hour, so none of those disappearing-reappearing folk were complaining (much) about it.

So, though you have people who were up at this time, no one was particularly happy to be up at this time.

However, there was one person that was running all the way to certain residence that was pretty excited.

Oh yes, there was someone on her mind that'd help her become pretty strong.

And then she finally reached her pretty little destination.

"Morning Naruto!" She greeted, pretty spectrum rainbows and pretty glimmering sunshine flowing in every direction she smiled.

"...What the hell are you doing here?" He flat-toned.

And then Sakura was pretty bewildered.

"You're gonna start training me!" She replied.

As far as she knew, she wanted to be with Sasuke. Sasuke was only interested in training and becoming stronger. Naruto pretended he was weak but was actually really strong and was always looking to research new techniques. She knew this and would help Naruto in exchange for training to catch Sasuke's eye.

They had mutual interests. It wasn't complicated.

"I didn't tell you to come back in the morning." He snorted.

Then why the hell did Naruto try to complicate things?

"You didn't give me a time to come back at all!" She said, a little more forcefully than she intended.

"For good reason." He said, though he did not add 'because he needed to devise a way to keep her on a leash', he did give a feeble excuse. "Besides, I gave you the wall-walking exercise yesterday."

With an impish smile, Sakura walked up his wall until they were eye to eye, to which she curtsied.

"...You picked that up fast." He said with a hint of amazement.

"What can I say? I'm talented, beautiful and a quick learner." She replied with a flourish.

"...And modest too." He snidely added.

The female genin made a threatening motion to bodily harm Naruto, but he merely raised a brow at her unintimidated.

So he got head-slapped.

"I still don't understand how you can act so prim and proper to Sasuke and just about everyone else, but come down to me and Ino and you're just as loud as I am." He lamented sourly, while rubbing the back of his irritated head.

"Being cordial will get you anywhere." She said with a polite smile. Then her expression changed to a half-lidded gaze and the smile turned into a grin. "I'm just _extra polite_ to those who have no manners."

Though Naruto wanted to point out Sasuke should have been an exception to that, he conceded lest she be '_extra polite_' again. Sakura on the other hand, had turned his question over in her mind.

"You know, I still don't understand why you're different." She started. "I mean, you're undoubtedly some sort of genius but you don't want people seeing that."

Naruto simply folded his arms and smirked at her.

"Tell you what. When you figure that, I'll start sharing with you my more interesting stuff."

"WHAT?-!" She shrieked. " You're still holding out on me after your promise?-!"

Naruto raised a hand to calm her down.

"I'll still keep on teaching you stuff, but there's no way I'm gonna have an inflexible thinker helping me with experimental techniques."

"Fine, fine." Sakura crossed her arms.

She sat down to start thinking when Naruto pulled her back to her feet.

"There's always time for thinking. I've got to get you stronger now."

She nodded dumbly and he began settling in a sitting state.

"I used to take this stance for meditational purposes and that was before I started practising on deciphering the Gentle Fist. It should help build focus and start on a base for your stamina. Then I'll have you learn Kage Bunshin."

He met her eyes, making sure she was listening.

"If it's possible, you should get yourself some weights. To be specific, chakra weights to help build your base. They're rather expensive, which is why I don't have a set. Although if you can get your hands on a pair, put them either on your legs for speed or arms for strength as they don't even look remotely like weights."

And so Sakura's _'Naruto crash-course'_ training began.

* * *

"How can you do this?-!" The shrill cry coursed the humble apartment.

"It's all about the focus. Use the pain to fuel the desire. Once you get used to it, it gets easier to do it longer." Naruto replied albeit sternly. Then, adding as an after-thought. "And stop shouting so loud, Sakura!"

Sakura sighed from her vantage point. A handful of days had passed since her inauguration under Naruto and for everyday she'd sneak out of her home to his apartment during the early hours of the morning. Though he had been rather reserved that this wasn't a good idea, the third time had his resolve crumble and accept it outright. He reasoned that he could find another time to be flexible with the hours, but why change a working schedule?

So then she'd get around an hour's worth of training for either building her stamina/chakra or, if she was lucky, a ninja technique -which as of yet she'd only received one. Then after the missions and attempting to coerce Sasuke into a date, she would go home and practise on what she'd learnt.

The time passing had her build a strong foundation for stamina and she'd extended her chakra amount a good deal since she'd started, probably with some help of the additional weights disguised as leg warmers (she could only afford one set and so interchanged it with her arms as often as she could). All in all, she improved rather fast, but to get within her teammates league, she would require another solid bulk of time yet.

"Well Naruto," She began sarcastically, "not everyone can be blessed with huge amounts of stamina."

Huffing grouchily, she continued to verbally lash her mentor back.

"And the other apartments are empty anyway. I think I should shout all I want!" The last sentence had been committed with a single finger salute.

Naruto rolled his eyes from his semi-sitting position, only... He had somehow supported himself in an upright position where his right leg was bent at a 90-degree angle at the knee, whilst the other had been more at a 45-degree angle. His back was set at perfectly straight and he had his hands in front of his chest held firmly in the Tiger hand-seal. All in all, he looked like he was in the correct back-posture for sitting down -only there was no seat beneath him.

"There are still other neighbourhoods. It'd be a problem for them to find out about this." He noted her being still seated on the floor. "Now get back to your stance."

She frowned at him but had said nothing and did not make any attempt to move. Still having had her full attention, Naruto decided to throw a little salt into the open wound and had shifted his left leg to lay on top of the other's knee.

At seeing Naruto suspend himself using only one leg, his pink-haired companion scowled, grabbed the nearest object (a book) and flung it at her blonde teacher; who deftly caught it and opened it at a bookmarked chapter -all without missing a beat.

Defeated, the pink-haired girl extended her impromptu break by seating herself cross-legged and meditating to get her chakra flowing regularly.

"So... How's it going between you and the brooding one?" Naruto asked.

Sakura scowled. He always made light of her flirting with Sasuke. Probably because he least believed that he would return her advances.

"He's noticing me getting stronger." She spat. "But it's still not enough... Not like I could show off what I know anyway."

Naruto nodded. It had been a rule on accepting her.

"How about we let him in and he can train with us too?"

Naruto had turned away and scowled. He knew the other boy would train hard too, but then where would it go? The boy would attain Sharingan and he would take everything he would need and then what? Sakura would likely revert back to a babbling wreck and picking her up as an apprentice would be a moot point. Add the fact that with two apprentices, it was twice as likely he'd be found out. Best to err on the side of caution and keep only one focused apprentice.

"I'll think about it." He said with much conviction to not continue the topic. Sakura took it seriously and let it go.

Eventually, she stood up and readied herself in the same position her trainer was in (though still rough around the edges as compared to his flawless stance).

"That reminds me..." Naruto said, looking over to her from the book. "You need to eat less of what I cook."

This thought caused Sakura to lose her focus and her balance, having her fall on her rump again. However, instead of complaining at how he had caused her lapse in concentration or how it could have been a jab at her weight...

"But you cook way better breakfast than what I normally get at home!" She complained.

It caused Naruto to smirk wryly.

"I'm not telling you to stop eating what I cook." He admonished. "Just less. People will get suspicious if you don't eat breakfast at home and yet you seem to be getting fitter." He licked a finger and turned a page.

Sakura couldn't argue that point but had pouted, not having to like the amendment. Naruto would often cook a grand breakfast and because of her more athletic metabolism, she found that she was starting to catch up with the blonde boy's appetite. Not the full on possibly eat 8 bowls of ramen in a sitting, but she now could definitely wolf down 1 and still be a little peckish for something else.

About to resume again, Sakura took a quick glance at the clock and noted that it was nearly time for breakfast. If she didn't get cleaned up now, she would have to skip out on breakfast with her teammate and eat less satisfactory morning food back at her own home.

Thus, a Sakura clone sitting at the sidelines then handed her a towel and a glass of water. Accepting gladly, Sakura regarded her Kage Bunshin with pride. Oh sure, she could only make one replication, maybe two in a day (though she wouldn't have enough chakra left for training or Kakashi's missions), but having help for the little things had been a godsend. Naruto had been adamant about not using it for luxury purposes, citing that many a ninja had been easily killed because of their lax ways when attaining a physical clone. Then he looked her seriously in the eye and swore that if her ability suffered because of it, he would beat the habit out of her. She gave him an incredulous look and motioned to the clone serving them breakfast (to point out the contradiction) when the clone had suddenly thrust a kunai into the throat of the Naruto sitting across from her. Sakura had watched in complete shock as her mentor had choked on his own blood for several seconds before he exploded, dispersing smoke within seconds. With a slow realisation, it dawned on Sakura that the chef Naruto had been the real one whilst a clone had conversed with her the length of the whole morning.

That day, Sakura had learned a valuable lesson about not abusing power.

And so she wiped the sweat off and dispelled her clone.

* * *

Naruto quietly observed his apprentice, as she headed for his bathroom to clean up. Then his gaze scanned the whole room. A book or two he didn't recognise. A small bag filled with spare clothes. A vase full of flowers. Hearing the sound of running water and then being muffled when a body had interrupted the spray had Naruto theorise that the bathroom cleaning agents she used was likely hers too.

"Just my apprentice for morning practises and she practically moves in with me." He groaned in dismay.

Returning to a standing position, he marched over to his chef clone and was quickly joined by the other clones. There they'd move in perfect synchronisation throwing between each other pieces of breakfast, cooking what needs to be cooking and arranging what was already done until everything was in place.

A few scant minutes passed and Sakura returned to Naruto's presence, altogether fresher than when she had left and had joined him to eat. Because of her tiring practise, Sakura took to her meal with much gusto causing her mentor to shake his head.

"Geeze. Before long, you're gonna be eating like I am." He commented dryly, though he knew that it would take months of practise before her metabolism would be anywhere near as fast as his. But he'd only commented to slow her eating for the time being.

She would've just ignored that if she didn't catch on something that had prodded at her in the back of her mind.

"I'll be eating like you are when you start teaching me the advanced stuff..." She then took a moment to bite into a piece of toast. "So when's that going to be?"

He blinked naively. Of course he had reason to.

"Have you figured out why I'm an idiot then?"

Sakura cursed under her breath. She had forgotten that little detail as soon as he had started training her.

"Damn it! I haven't been thinking about that!"

Naruto held up his hands innocently in an open hand gesture.

"I thought you were smart."

She was about to reply with a particularly nasty four-letter word and was ready to break into rants.

"Apprentice."

He said the word sternly without it sounding demeaning. It was a term he used on her a day or so ago, whenever he wanted her to take something seriously and focus.

She looked up and analysed his motions. He was pointing to his wrist and tapping it, staring expectantly at her.

Oh, she was running late.

"I've gotta get going!" She grabbed her bag with dirty clothes and ran for the door. "Thanks for the breakfast, Naruto-senpai!"

Among a few shortened teacher pet names (her most used being 'senpai') were terms she used for him not long since he started calling her his apprentice. She was quick to notice that he already broke one of his own rules and went on to abuse this for whenever she was feeling particularly playful or scandalous. He would always try to correct her but she usually had none of that, using it only when she could get away with it.

Like now, when she's running out the door.

Naruto could only resign to wave her off. Once she was out of sight, he grabbed his latest shopping bill and skimmed through the prices, frowning at the tally. Having an apprentice was getting kinda expensive.

* * *

"YOU'RE LATE!" Two accusing fingers pointed at the not _entirely_ embarrassed-looking jounin.

"Sorry, sorry. I had a bet with Asuma but you'll be happy to know that I won it!" A visible closed eye turned upwards, obviously in high spirits.

"It's not a stupid bet about being purposely late on us for the last week, was it?" The orange clad boy folded his hands displeased.

"Eheheh..." The teacher scratched the back of his head completely sheepish.

All his students ignited with unsurpassed fury that could only be summoned on either the villain killing your loved one or when a friend really ticks you off. They also mentally noted to also force a pack of tobacco sticks down the bearded jounin's throat.

"But we got a mission today!"

The tension eased a little.

"I know it's a regular D-Rank..."

Sakura and Naruto were slowly approaching their teacher, fully intent on throttling him into next week. Though Sasuke wasn't following their example, his hands twitched and he was with his teammates in spirit.

"But... Umm... It could turn A-Rank...?"

There was a break in forwarding, as the students exchanged confused glances. Kakashi used this distraction to get them moving to their mission.

---

"So you want us to go in the bathhouse, replace the old stools and cleaning stuff with the new stools and cleaning stuff in less than three minutes?" Sakura dead-panned.

"THAT'S A D-RANK MISSION!" Naruto pointed accusingly.

"There's a catch. There's always a catch." Sasuke mumbled to himself.

Kakashi gave Sasuke a hearty slap on the shoulder.

"Sasuke is quite right! You all will have to split up and enter the bath that's not of your gender!"

"WHAT?" Chorused the genin. Before long, collective murmurs and shouts of vehement denials rose in volume as the idea of a mutiny had unraveled, all agreeing that their teacher had gone too far.

"Fine, fine. Meet back at the bridge." Their teacher called it off.

---

"Well, that is Team 7's first mission failure." Kakashi sighed dramatically.

"It was an unreasonable mission." Sakura folded her arms, frowning.

Though Naruto and Sasuke visibly nodded, they had disliked the idea of staining their as-of-yet flawless mission achievements... Even if it was something ridiculous as this. But neither wanted to be the first to fold.

The Hatake jounin had expected all of this, but he'd needed a way to explain certain things to his students. So instead of dismissing them like-wise a normal mission would have typically ended when denied, he was going to push them on through.

"So, what did we learn today?" Kakashi asked his team.

"A late teacher is a liar." Sakura went first. She had disliked the mission and disliked it further under this jounin's tutelage.

"A late teacher is untrustable." Sasuke went second. His frustration was far too inconsolable at this point and he had to voice his opinion.

"A LATE TEACHER IS A PERVERT!" Naruto had no grace for tact, as he jumped up and down whilst pointing out who was responsible for the debacle.

Kakashi sweatdropped. Time to set the record straight.

"Well, if any of you ever want to further your career as a ninja, there are times where you may be asked to do unsavory things." Their teacher simply said in his defense.

This caught his students' attention.

"It's not all about rescuing someone or guarding an item or picking off traitorous ninjas." Kakashi averted his gaze from his students. He was giving them advice to remember and it drudged up some unwanted memories. "This is especially obvious in ANBU. A client may ask us to get rid of someone or take out a rival business. These people could be working to restore poor countries or for any number of reasons benefiting the less fortunate."

Sensing more than seeing the younger genin's eyes widen, Kakashi closed his visible eye and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"But that's life. The Leaf can't afford to appear weak to the other Hidden Villages and usually the absurd amount of money paid is helping repair the kind of damage done on an every day basis. Training dummies for genin teams, better facilities, repairs for public domains whenever ninjas do property damage ranging from blast craters to roof-hopping..."

"That is terrible." Sakura gasped out.

"The money has to come from somewhere." Sasuke was quick to absorb it and sensibly accept it, though he didn't like it any better than his teammates did.

Naruto's head hung low and he shook all over. Everyone turned to see his response but became a little worried at the display.

Suddenly, the blond boy turned to the others and held up a fist.

"When I become Hokage, I'll change all of that!" He proudly swore.

The rest of Team 7 managed a blink.

"Idiot. You just don't understand that being a ninja requires alot of money. Where do you get the money you spend on?" Sasuke sneered. He was well-versed in thinking that a ninja has to be a sensible thinker and be willing to make sacrifices.

"Ha! When I become Hokage, I'll make the Leaf the strongest Village among the other Villages and we'll never have to worry about things like that again!" He shook his fist, belief completely stead-fast on the simple logic.

They were just words, just wishful thinking...

But it brought a smile to Kakashi all the same.

After a few moments of watching his genin team squabble, he interrupted to finish the lesson.

"But remember; all the same, it is still our lives. We may not have to like what we do, but that's the way things are." Kakashi solemnly voiced.

Then Naruto proceeded to get to his feet and pointed back to the direction of the bathhouse.

"Let's do the mission! And this time do it right!" He declared. The other members reluctantly agreed.

"Good, unlike most missions, you're lucky you'll get a second chance this time." The silver-haired jounin applauded the boy's determination.

---

They were just about to reach the premises again when Sakura faced her teacher.

"Can you change the parameters for the mission atleast?" Sakura asked, still not comfortable with the objectives he gave.

"Fine." The jounin gave in. It wasn't like the mission actually required to be done his way, he only set it up so he could give his insight to his students about the ninja world.

"One person is allowed to enter the bath of their gender. Otherwise, all of you will still have to refill the cleaning aids and replace the stools -the newer of each being located in the changing rooms. And you all have to do this as efficiently as possible so it's going to be two minutes now."

"Whatever method you use is up to you." The jounin shrugged.

"So we can't wait until it closes... Or find out a reliable time when it is empty..." Sakura considered.

"And that means two of us still has to go..." Naruto muttered.

"Only one person can save face..." Sasuke hissed, his eyes narrowing at the prospect. "And we can't have one member do nothing whilst the other two do the work. It would be a waste of resources and time."

"And it can't be me..." Sakura admitted. "If I went into the girl side, that means both of you go to the boy side and that would fail our mission requirements. If Sasuke comes with me, then we still fail because two people are still in their correct environments."

Sasuke merely smirked and headed towards an entrance. It was only after he went inside, that everyone caught on that he went into the men's side.

"DAMN THAT GUY!" Naruto punched the nearest wall, having realised the full implications to be the one to enter the female side.

Sakura and Kakashi winced, but had honestly expected something like this to happen.

"Well, a ninja must always be ready to face the unexpected. Regardless if he wants to or not." Sakura said, giving her remaining teammate's shoulder a reassuring pat.

"Right." He said a little disheartened, a blush crossing his cheeks.

He gave a nod to Sakura, who returned it and they both went their separate ways, their teacher retrieving his preferred reading device.

It wasn't long before the screaming from the women's side had started up.

The screaming had Sakura shake her head. Unlike Naruto, she had transformed before entering and didn't draw much attention to herself. Now to stop her blushing from being too obvious and stick with Sasuke without getting too close to other men here.

The screaming had Sasuke smirk. He had expected this of his teammate. However, the amusement didn't last long as he got more uncomfortable with his situation. Sure, he was on the men's side, but Sakura was standing too close for his comfort. Normally, it would have been tolerable, but at the moment Sakura had created an illusion to make her appear male, which caused the other men to give them both weird looks.

The screaming had Kakashi minorly distracted from his book. He was a little disappointed with his student, but reasoned that if the boy was any better at tactics, then he wouldn't have to go about embarrassing himself.

---

A short time had passed and Sasuke and Sakura emerged, having finished their half of the duty. Sakura had looked oddly at her teacher at first, something crossing her mind.

"Kakashi-sensei...? How did it go?" Sakura interrupted her teacher from his reading.

"_How did it go?_" He repeated." Naruto's not back yet."

"I meant about the women who'd be angry about how the mission was set up." She shrugged.

Oh. He hadn't thought of that. And there's been more than enough time for someone to confront him but no one did.

Meaning that something wasn't just wrong.

No. It actually meant something was very wrong.

But before Kakashi could act on it, Naruto did come out, dusting his hands in satisfaction.

"Hehehe."

Now, Naruto was a young boy, he probably explained to them that he was the janitor and they'd probably let it slide with his age... But that snickering was definitely not a good sign at all. Atleast, not for his teacher that is.

"You know Naruto, I almost hate to ask you, but just how did you go about to doing your tasks?" Kakashi asked, a little worry creeping into his voice.

"I looked underneath the underneath, Sensei! And I had someone help me!" He proudly stated.

And with that, Naruto used Henge to transform into the spitting image of Kakashi himself, wearing a towel wrapped at his waste, the usual mask around his face and the forehead protector, which covered both eyes. The Naruto-masquerading-as-Kakashi extended a hand in greeting, whilst keeping the other at his waist to hold the towel up.

"Yo."

Sakura had burst into giggles. Sasuke couldn't help but crack a smile as well. They both knew that whatever's coming, was because their weird teacher did deserve it.

Kakashi sweat-dropped. He now had a really, really bad feeling about where this was going.

"And how did you recieve help from imitating me...?"

"Easy! I went in as you and everyone got angry, but someone realised I couldn't be you and told everyone to calm down. Then she took me out and I told her about your training and she decided to help me out!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, she should be on her way out now."

And out stepped Kurenai. Never before did Kakashi really feel the need for the preservation of his life clashing with the absolution to get what's coming to him as running would _definitely_ make it worse.

"Hello Kakashi." Her voice had a bit of steel lining it.

"H-hi Kurenai-san." He stammered back.

"You have a peculiar way of training your students, Kakashi." She commented off-handedly, not even glancing at said genin.

"Err... I tried to make the mission less ordinary by turning it into a miniature espionage! You know, a little team-building, a little explanation about the real world sorta thing... " He admitted.

Seeing her cracking her knuckles, Kakashi could only back into a corner and take a fetal position, his genius thinking held back by the flood of survival instincts reserved for indignant women.

---

"So what have we learned from all this?" Kakashi asked his students.

"Never piss off Kurenai-sensei." Naruto said in a sage-like way. His eyes were closed and he nodded his head slowly and solemnly.

"Guys shouldn't enter the women side of the baths." Sasuke said in a completely serious tone. Though not as sage-like as Naruto, he still held conviction in his words.

"Sometimes, a ninja must get their hands dirty." Sakura said before adding, "Especially if they want to pound perverts."

Kakashi sighed from the confines of the hospital bed.

"Did you learn something from today, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"That I will never try to make D-Rank missions more interesting for my students." The silver-haired jounin said glumly.

The genins had a good chuckle about it and their teacher set about dismissing them.

But before they were out the door, he called their attention to address his serious piece so his students could reflect on it.

"Just don't forget our lesson today." Kakashi reiterated. "Sometimes a ninja must do what they don't want to do. We don't have to like it, but it's a mission and we must do it to the best of our abilities."

He gave them a curt nod.

"We are ninja."

* * *

"We are ninja." Sakura mumbled to herself.

She had went about her day normally and was now preparing for sleep, her mind locked on her teacher's parting words. Something about the statement rang in her mind like a key piece to a jigsaw. Problem was, she had millions of other jigsaws still incomplete.

And it was still on her mind when sleep had finally taken her.

She had a dream about a spy. A spy in a village of very important people. But everyone had known he was a spy. So the spy did the one thing that no one wouldn't believe.  
And everyone laughed when they saw him stuck getting into an open window.  
Laughed when he'd sneak around corners in plain sight.  
Laughed when he bragged about being a spy.  
So they'd invite him over for drinks, and they'd all get wasted and they would tell him things.  
They'd invite him to meetings and he'd spill coffee all over his papers and they would chuckle and let him keep it.  
They'd invite him to secret exhibitions and he'd fall all over himself, his notepad filling in with obscurities, nonsense and doodles that no one ever gave a second look at.

But it came as quite the shock when they found he had learned everything from them.

* * *

Then Sakura woke with a start, the realisation had struck her.

"Oh. My. God."

Naruto had answered the banging at his front door, still clad in his stripe pajamas, the odd bear-cap and a sleepy-eyed expression.

"Hey Naruto!" She beamed at him.

The sleepy boy looked from the chirpy girl standing outside his door, then to the nearest clock and then back to the chirpy girl.

"You're two hours early..." He moaned.

Her barely contained excitement had her shaking and so he surmised she didn't look like the type to leave anytime soon. So he let her in and started on his shadow replications to begin his morning ritual.

"I finally figured it out!" Her thoughts were being thrown left, right and centre, trying to make order of the startling revelation.

"Yeah?" Her sentence had caused him to focus. He stood straight now and the beginnings of his grin started to tug at his features.

Sakura had taken a few seconds still, her eyes watched her right as she read something only she could see.

"A Ninja's asset is darkness. Always to hide in shadow and strike when the enemy least expects it. We are born to live and die in silence. It is the way of the ninja."

Her opening had brought a smile to his lips.

"You adhere to everything the pact is. Though a ninja's asset is darkness, your clothing and loud attitude is what makes people ignore you. You don't hide in the background, you hide in the foreground. People don't notice your true strength because they under estimate you and that's how you get the better of them. And for all your big talk, you never say anything... Atleast anything worthwhile."

She was babbling. She knew it, she knew he knew it but she didn't care. She hit on something huge and he smiled at her for noticing it. Then she went for her coup de grace.

"A ninja is a master of deceit," Her eyes flew around wildly, "and you've deceived a village of ninjas."

Naruto now had a full out grin. She had outlined him perfectly. And so they both stood there for a moment, herself reveling in the unbelievable realisation she had stumbled on, and himself basking in pride.

The moment stretched.

"Deceived a village of ninjas." She murmured just soft enough for him to miss it. There was a little prick in her chest when she said it. Something felt really wrong about the sentence.

But...

**-clap-**

Then a single clap broke the sound of silence.

**-clap-**

Which did another follow. It brought Sakura out of her quiet musings and she looked over to Naruto to find him doing the action.

**-clap- -clap-**

Then there were more and she turned to notice the clones that were around the house put their hands together.

**-clap- -clap- -clap- -clap- -clap- -clap- -clap- -clap- -clap- -clap-**

And slowly but surely there suddenly were more clones fading into sight, all clapping.

And the sound became a thunderously soft ovation.

For her.

A red hue crossed her cheeks at the thought of a crowd applauding her. Now thoroughly embarrassed, she turns to the first Naruto she addressed, assuming he was the original.

"You're acting as if this was a really big deal!" She fiddled with the hem of her attire.

"It is a really big deal." He replied, still amused.

She glanced back at all the clones that were starting to dwindle. The blush was fading but the smile stayed.

"So..." The real Naruto had caught her attention.

"Yeah?"

"It begins." (1)

* * *

If Sakura had paid more attention to her dream, she would have realised one vital flaw.

A spy's allegiance isn't exactly to the people they are spying on.

But her train of thought had already left the station, focused on a Sasuke-oriented goal.

* * *

The sun rose and Team 7 waited patiently for their teacher to arrive to meet them at the bridge. Never mind, it was nearing 2 hours past their scheduled time.

Naruto sat swaying on the rail of the bridge.

Sasuke sat relaxing, on a branch in his usual tree.

Sakura sat all by her lonesome self, humming brightly whilst leaning on a bridge post.

When all of a sudden, Naruto stopped swaying and a slow realisation crossed his features.

"I just thought of something."

Sasuke smirked. A remark about Naruto's thinking ability danced in his mind but he wasn't about to lower himself to that level at this point in time.

Their pink-haired companion wasn't so forestalling about her own remark.

"That's a first."

Naruto ignored Sakura and turned to face his teammates.

"Didn't Kurenai-sensei do a number on Kakashi yesterday?"

His other teammates blinked in unison. Sakura then groaned loudly as the full implications hit. Sasuke tilted his head back, trying to force the growing headache away.

"We might as well go check up on him." Sakura got up and dusted herself off.

---

"Yo." A regular greeting.

"YOU'RE LATE!" A standard return.

But Kakashi did not give an excuse and instead, smirked eerily (-if it was visible by any normal means).

"Ah ah ah! Actually, my students, it is YOU who are late! For I am confined here!" He said, quite happy with the turn of events.

Through fractured logic, did the genin's accept this assessment as they really should have known to come to Kakashi's room instead of wait at the bridge. With the ball in his court, Kakashi kept it rolling.

"Now," Kakashi clasped his hands with glee, "let's hear your excuses!"

He received three different tones of 'lost on the road to life' causing him to lightly cackle to himself.

"Weren't you ever gonna send someone to tell us you couldn't make it there?" Sakura asked, despising the idea that her teacher was in the right this once.

"Hell no!" Kakashi folded his arms, completely steadfast to his belief. "As my students, I have high expectations that you would know that my stay here would have been for a longer extent."

His team groaned in disgust.

"Well, since I am unable to retrieve any sort of missions for us to do, nor can I supervise your training, you all will have to do so without me for a couple more days."

And his students relished this idea.

"But, don't get out of shape! When I get out, I'll get a mission to make you guys wish you were having D-Ranks all over again!"

Naruto and Sakura whooped whilst Sasuke silently praised the thought.

"Now get out! I need to rest up!"

As the genin's filed out, Kakashi mused on the kind of mission he would require for them to learn a bigger lesson.

"Maybe a C-Rank with bandits would be good. A little blood will jolt them enough to prepare them more for the world..."

He let the thought hang, as his other hand sneaked behind his head and retrieved a certain book from underneath his pillow.

Then his room was filled with the sounds of immature giggling.

* * *

"So Sasuke,-" Sakura started, sliding up to the raven-haired boy.

"No." He cut the middle man.

"But I haven't even-" She tried again.

"No." He cut that line.

"How abo-"

"No." That bud didn't even have the chance to blossom.

Defeated, Sakura hung limply, letting her beloved to go on his way unhindered. Once Sasuke was at a far enough distance, Naruto then took his chance to ask Sakura out.

"There's always me, Sakura-chan!"

The pink-haired girl cringed, though the thought didn't sound so bad lately.

But she still had a reputation to uphold.

"No way!"

Naruto deflated and started on his way.

"Are you going to go train later, Naruto?" She asked, before he got too far off.

Naruto faced her, raising a brow at the question.

"I want to work on my skills a bit later." She shrugged, appearing aloof to the idea.

His eyes focused. He'd recognised it as a subtle plea for help on the technique she was learning. Fortunately, he had extra time after he'd help along his gardening project.

"I guess I will." He shrugged. "I'll be at our team's regular spot in an hour and I'll probably be there for most of the day."

She nodded thankfully and they went their separate ways for the time being.

---

"Did you manage to work it out between our training now and the early morning?" He asked, easily avoiding the hit directed at him.

"No." She huffed. "It's pretty tough. Takes alot out of me." She threw another hit to which he backed just out of range.

"Read any texts then?"

"Nope, but I'm thinking of going to a library before lunch. I need a good idea of what to look out for."

He nodded absently.

"I suppose. But I'd still go with my first recommendation. Once you get the basics down, the rest of it does itself. You go read up on something complex and it'll be all the more tiring every time you do it."

Though disgusted with the idea, Sakura had to admit that it did have some merit. Because of this distraction she nearly forgot to back flip over Naruto's next attack.

Seeing her attention diverged, Naruto decided to throw in some incentive. Better she learn the technique before Kakashi gets out of the hospital.

"Tell you what. When you can do the technique, I'll let you in on a way you can get Sasuke's attention."

He lunged again, only for his opponent to be already heading back to town.

"I'll have it down in no time then!" She called over her shoulder.

Expecting as much, Naruto smirked and continued his stamina training.

---

Sakura sighed.

It had been rather embarrassing that Ino had shown up on several occasions, each time blocking her attempt on her self-imposed mission and cleanly crushing the fortress of courage she'd built up.

Damn her!

Infact, the other girl had gotten so nosy, that Sakura couldn't bear it anymore and left. Ino, seeing her rival retreat, pulled up the chase and went on to get under Sakura's skin.

Ino had been persistent. Very persistent. It was lucky that she received additional stamina training and had replaced her leg weights onto her arms or Ino might have got the better of her and things would've gone down hill pretty fast.

Sakura only managed to evade her pursuer long enough to promise the girl _'tell her some other time'_, though Sakura filed that under as _'never'_.

Arriving at the outskirts of her team's regular training spot, she spotted a familiar face she hadn't seen in a while.

"Hey Hinata!" Sakura greeted as she approached the Hyuuga-heiress, though she also wondered if any of the teams were doing any sort of training or missions at all today.

"Oh! Hi Sakura." Hinata returned the greeting timidly, followed by a bow.

"No need to be so formal with me, Hinata-chan!" Sakura waved it off.

"A-alright." Blushing a little, Hinata looked away.

Sakura then took it on herself to press on.

"How're things on your team?" Sakura inquired.

"Well, I guess our team is doing fine. Kiba is really energetic and Shino usually keeps to himself. We've only had some D-rank missions lately." Hinata returned in light detail.

"Any C-rank yet?"

"No. Has your team...?"

"Nope. Although Kakashi-sensei said he'd be getting one for us in a few days." Then Sakura caught herself.

"Not that it might be a C-Rank mind you. He said he was going to get us a mission that wasn't D-Rank, so it has to be C-Rank. It's unlikely administration would give genin to do anything higher than that."

Hinata nodded her head.

"Umm... Isn't Kakashi-san injured?"

"Yeah, but said he would do it when he gets out." Then the thought occurred wondering how Hinata knew that piece of information.

"How'd you know that?"

"Kurenai-sensei told us and cancelled training today. I think she's going to go and apologise." (2)

"Ah."

Sakura paused a little and looked over Hinata's shoulder to see Naruto beating up on a dummy like he usually does.

"Are you here to see Naruto?" She asked slyly.

"H-huh?" Hinata gasped, her face turned a shade of red.

Hinata turned an even deeper shade of red under Sakura's scrutiny.

"O-oh! You must be v-very busy! I m-must be on my way!" Hinata stammered, turning to leave.

"I'll see you later Hinata-chan!" Sakura waved her academy friend off. Hinata had returned it as she retreated further away.

Once the other girl had left, Sakura finally found her chance to approached Naruto, who had just stopped to take a break and merely lay face up on the ground. She briefly looked up wondering if there was anything worth seeing. Then he chose to speak.

"I think Hinata's on to me."

Confusion marred Sakura's face.

"Why would you say that?"

"She's always spying on me. I never really did expect her to be able to see under my guise, but I guess I should have expected it with her blood limit and the fact that she's from the Hyuuga Main House."

Sakura tried to hold her laughter in, but found that she couldn't.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"...Eh? This really isn't a funny matter. If the Hyuuga find out I've been imitating their style, they'll want to kill me!"

"Hahah... No... Not that... Hehe..." Sakura managed to say in-between wheezes for air and the occasional chuckle until she composed herself.

"She likes you!" She mirthfully declared.

Naruto blinked.

"...what?" He sat up now.

"I mean it! It's obvious that she's got a crush on you!" She hunched over on her toes and poked him square in the forehead when she addressed him.

"I don't get it..." Naruto shook his head.

"She likes you like the way I like Sasuke!" She couldn't help but add a little annoyance to the last sentence.

"...But she doesn't throw herself at me, like the way you do to Sasuke or I do to you."

Sakura rolled her eyes. The brief thought that though Naruto is a once in a blue-moon genius doesn't excerpt him from being obliviously male. It was an easy subject after all.

"You don't HAVE to-" Sakura held up her hands, extending only the index and middle digits. "-_'throw yourself at someone'_ to show that you like them! Sheesh."

"Oh. So what do I do?"

"Are all men this dense?" Sakura mumbled to herself but was quick to speak up. "Just hang out with her! Talk with her! You know... Take her out to eat and stuff?"

"And train too?"

Sakura gave him a level gaze.

"Yeah, that too." She sighed. "But that's not really all that romantic."

"But I don't really have ties with her." His brows furrowed.

"Of course you don't! Just be friends first!" She snapped.

"...Friends?" Naruto tested the word on his tongue.

"Don't tell me you don't know what friends are!" Sakura cried out exasperated, throwing her hands up completely distraught with how dense he was being.

Naruto looked away.

An uncomfortable silence settled.

The effect had Sakura refrain from a tirade and instead, examined the boy infront of her. Flicking through various memories, she'd had tried to picture a face that often frequented him in the academy. She couldn't find a memory of that at all.

Infact, any memory had him actually isolated from the others. Alone.

"You really don't know... Do you?" She asked softly.

For a reason he couldn't fathom, a fragment of Naruto's mind was locked into replaying the scene with Iruka and Mizuki time and time again. Though it didn't detract from his logical focus, it did have an odd effect on his physical body. Like tightening his throat enough to make swallowing a little difficult and far more audible than it should be.

"I think Iruka-sensei and I... Are friends... But I don't know." He'd finally replied.

"Do you both hang out, eat out, talk about anything...?" A little pity seeped into the question.

"Yes, all of that." He nodded. "But I haven't seen him in a while." The admission had constricted his chest a little too.

"But do you both like hanging out with each other?"

He didn't trust himself to speak. Just nod.

"Then you're friends!" There was a little relief and even a hint of joy in the declaration.

He turned to her, his face a mixture of doubt and hope.

"...really?"

"Yeah!"

A warm feeling had coursed through Naruto. A pleasant calm had brought him back a smile... But it had gone as quickly as it appeared when he suddenly tensed again.

Sakura recognised it and let the silence flow and waited patiently for Naruto's last question.

"Would you consider being friends with me, Sakura?" His voice had been soft and fragile, as if the slightest breeze could have taken it away and into the winds.

Sakura gave a tender smile and stepped behind the seated boy. Her arms encircled him and she pulled him into an embrace from behind, her chin resting on his wild unkempt hair.

"I would love to be your friend, Naruto-kun." She replied just as softly.

There was another pause, as each closed their eyes and savored the moment.

"Thank you."

* * *

Eventually, Sakura had left, off to her own training whilst Naruto pondered on what to do for the moment.

He considered that if what Sakura had said was true, that the Hyuuga-  
heiress actually had a crush on him (and not spying and plotting his demise), then he should repay her courtesy with a visit. Additionally, she happened to be walking information since he did not have the instruction to replicate the Gentle Fist attacks, but merely the movements.

Resolved to searching for her, it took him some time to locate her team's usual training spot, seated with her back to the training post. She was curled up and breathing loudly.

From what Naruto could see, she was tired or upset. Or likely both. From the academy, Naruto had known her to be both an easily upset and introverted girl. Though graced with a noble clan, she had little to no qualities to be able to fit in either within the clan or with the other normal children.

In short, she was a plain-looking dark weirdo.

Best to test the waters then.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto called out, approaching the seated girl.

"N-Naruto-kun!" She exclaimed, shocked at seeing Naruto approaching her.

"What're you up to?" He inquired, grinning up a storm.

"I was just t-training..." Was her reply. "But I kind of s-stopped for a bit..." She gestured to the post behind her embarrassedly.

"Ah?"

The fox-boy held his chin in contemplation. Hinata quaked a little under his intense scrutiny.

Then he looked around to take in the surroundings. No one else was in the area, so Naruto found it safe to ask about his next question.

"Wanna train together?" The blond boy started to scratch at his head a little nervously. "Cause you know... Sasuke's thinks he's all that and above everyone and then Sakura's only about Sasuke anyway..."

Hinata had been pleasantly surprised. She had thought that perhaps the Naruto's pink-haired teammate would have started reciprocating his advances by now!

And though she felt a little winded, she knew this was a once in a life-time chance to be able to get closer to the person she looks up to.

"O-okay!"

And so they fought...

A dark-haired girl moved swiftly this way and that, with simple gestures here and there. But it did not matter, for every push she gave, an invisible knife struck within the opponent's own body.

Not that she would actually injure Naruto-kun, mind you. He was a person she lo... looked up to.

Then a blond boy would deftly move in and ruggedly attack here and there, blocking and absorbing every strike. In truth, the boy was merely observing and committing what was important to memory, whilst his body probed his partner's attacks and defenses and adding to her muscle memory to move correctly to certain standard attacks.

Not that he was friends with Hinata-chan enough to train her, mind you. He was just testing the full gravitation of her own strengths and weaknesses.

---

It was some time later that they mutually agreed to halt.

Naruto was inwardly displeased. Not only had she pulled her punches, but she was also mixing some of her Hyuuga Gentle Fist style with the academy's hand-to-hand standard combat.

He mused to put an end to that.

"You know Hinata, you're not really hitting me. Don't you guys have like some sort of really kick-ass taijutsu style?" He whined.

"Y-yeah... But I know how to use it and I don't want to hurt you" Hinata looked away, embarrassed at being caught out.

"Nonsense! C'mon! Fight me for real! I can't stand it if you're just gonna go easy on me!" He said resolutely.

"I don't know..." She scratched the back of her head.

"Please...?" Bright cerulean, glimmering eyes pleaded.

"Oh... okay." She couldn't find the heart to disagree.

---

Another workout had occurred, this time going for even longer than the last session.

Hinata had sat, her breathing haggard. She had never trained herself up to this point and it was only pure will alone that she'd get this far to try to impress the boy.

Naruto on the other hand stopped to review what he knew of her techniques. And he found that though the Hyuuga family style was indeed a marvel... It was also flawed. He also had yet to see any of the Hyuuga's most impressive fabled techniques. But all of that was probably due to the girl's poor acrobatics, low stamina and inability to fight fiercer.

"This isn't working out, Hinata." He sighed.

"W-what?" She looked up surprised.

"You're just not fighting back. It's not really training." Naruto shrugged.

It was personally the first thing she expected and the least of what she ever hoped to occur.

Even _he_ gave up on her.

"I'm sorry." She apologised.

Seeing her crest-fallen look, Naruto held up his hands.

"No! Don't be sorry! You want to get stronger right?" A grin was pulling at his features.

"Y-yes..." She stammered, wondering exactly where this was going.

"But you don't want to hurt people?" He wanted to confirm.

"I-I guess n-not..." She deflated again. "I'm sorry."

"No! It's alright! I was thinking..." This time the grin was in full swing and his mind was going a mile a minute, excitement was building pretty quickly.

Hinata only looked on, a little intrigued by what was going on in Naruto's head.

"You can use your freaky eye thing to see lots of things, right?" His excitement was definitely flowing now.

"Ummm... Sorta." She was a little dismayed to have her prized blood limit be labeled off as a _'freaky eye thing'_.

"And you probably can see inside their body and their chakra and how it moves and stuff, right?" His excitement was practically bubbling over the brim by now.

"I suppose..." She prepared herself for the question he built up to.

"Why don't you change your fighting style?" He plainly asked.

"C-change it?" Hinata's jaw went slack.

To a Hyuuga, the Gentle Fist was everything. To even consider changing it was blasphemy.

But it was true.

Her own father acknowledged that she was weak and was already preparing her sister, Hanabi, for a mantle she may not receive.

"Yeah, yeah! See, like... We could make a fighting style where you don't really hurt people!"

And ridiculous! Utterly, utterly ridiculous!

And so not only was Naruto speaking a sheer amount of blasphemy, but there was a substantial amount of utterly ridiculous insanity to beat the already dead horse!

And...

And...

And though utterly ridiculous and sheer blasphemous, the idea had merited to bring back a sliver of hope to Hinata's face.

"Is that possible...?" Wishful thinking backing her question.

"Yeah!" His energetic response had cemented the trust she placed into him.

Naruto then started rifling through his pockets, pretending to look for an object that he may have misplaced.

In actual truth, he mentally debated the pros and cons of giving Hinata a certain scroll in his possession. He had found this scroll whilst going through the rubbish of a shop that regularly threw out objects that either; were too damaged or were too outdated to sell. Naruto had lucked out when he found this one. Not only was it outdated, but it was also water-logged, burned, dirty and had huge instances of missing chunks of text. Generally far too mangled even for him, he was still determined to see it through and spent a handful of weeks cleaning it up to find a diamond that it really was. He was keeping it around for when he could learn the Gentle Fist and then combine both arts... But now it seemed like the only way to be able to earn Hyuuga instruction would be to tutor her and then have her unknowingly tutor him...

So Naruto made his gamble.

He pulled out a worn-looking blue scroll.

Hinata dared not to take it, but Naruto held it out to her insisting. So she accepted and carefully opened it.

"Mizu Nagare no Taijutsu... The Art of Flowing Water?" She mumbled aloud. She'd never heard of this style before.

Hinata blurred over bits and details. The scroll was old and there were atleast three different styles of handwritings she could detect. The first was clearly the original scribe of the scroll whilst the other two appeared as footnotes.

However one note in particular captured Hinata's attention.

"Classified scroll #84. Property of Umigakure...(3)" Then the thought sunk in.

"The Hidden Village of Ocean?" She gasped. "But that village was wiped out during their first generation!" She said pointedly at Naruto.

He shrugged. He'd already known that tidbit. It took a few years of on-and-off research to learn as much as he did about the scroll and had written his own set of footnotes (not in the decaying scroll -that would be stupid).

Surmising that his apathetic reply was because it had gone over his head, Hinata applied herself to skimming through the scroll.

It was a few moments later she stopped, awestruck.

"Alot of this is primitive, but it's amazing! It has ideas to turn your opponents strength against them using only their own momentum and strength..."

Then she shook her head clearing away the cobwebs. She realised that this scroll was a part of history and possibly far too valuable to be in her care, much less she be worthy of trying to learn it and adapt it to her own style.

"I can't accept this!" She held it back to Naruto who didn't make a move to accept it.

"Nah, Hinata-chan." He waved it off. "I tried learning that stuff but I like hitting people more, you know?"

Before she could protest, he continued.

"Besides," he wiped his hands on his pants. "you outta learn it! It looks like you could use it better than I could!"

"B-but..."

"I insist." He'd covered her extended hand with his.

A full blush had crossed her face and she'd cowed a little, completely embarrassed from the gesture.

"Let's make this our secret okay?" He asked, a grin exploding on his face.

"Y-yeah." She agreed. What else could she do?

Then he pulled away and started heading out of the training spot.

"I'm pretty much bushed! I'll catch up with you tomorrow Hinata-chan!"

She waved back to him and glanced back at the scroll. Tonight, she'll be going through it as best she can to live up to Naruto's expectations tomorrow!

* * *

It was some hours later that Naruto had found himself back home, staring into his mirror's stony-visage. It wasn't that he was at a point grooming himself. No. Far from it. He needed his reflection to be able to reflect on things. (No pun intended)

And it was all in turmoil.

His thoughts were in turmoil.

Sakura and he were friends.

Are friends.

And since he'd graduated, he'd taken to purposely avoiding his academy teacher, for reasons he couldn't voice...

...only now to find out that the man was a friend too.

Infact, it was seeming more likely that Sarutobi, Hinata, Kakashi and even Sasuke could relatively be penned under the same term.

"Friends." He murmured. It held a lilt of hesitance and longing.

Naruto had unconsciously smiled that stupid grin of his. Then he'd opened his eyes and eyed it warily.

It was less fake then he remembered.

**-SMASH-**

Naruto removed his bloodied fist from the remains of the mirror, dislodging a few more shards from the spider web-like cracked surface.

"It changes nothing."

_End Chapter 03_

Feedback, constructive criticism and flames welcomed.  
I'll take that like I'll take a baseball bat to the face.

* * *

_(1)_  
I hadn't mentioned what technique Sakura's learning. If you haven't caught on, it'll be revealed during the chuunin exam.

_(2)_  
Kurenai stalked the hallways. She'd arrived infront of a certain door and prepared herself. This mission would be classified easily as A-Rank, possibly S. But it would be worth it to finally put her curiousity to rest.

On a silent signal, she blurred into the room, pried Icha Icha Paradise from the face of the occupant of the bed and reached for his mask...

...only to stop when she saw it was a log wearing a mask and forehead protector covering one eye.

"DAMMIT! Still one step behind!"

(3)  
Umigakure. Hidden Ocean. No big deal. Really, just interesting to note a bit later. Not going to be major plot, no siree.

* * *

**Author's notes:  
**Sorry for how late this chapter is. Once again, I got lost on the road to life. This time it's a family crisis. Gah. 

Back to the fic, not much else to say. Sakura's on the training regime, cause I realy require her to get stronger soon. I also threw in a couple of 'pop quiz' stuff for next chapter.

Heh, hope you guys haven't forgotten Naruto's hell-bent on revenge. Just a wake-up callin that last paragraph.

Expect an intro for Hinata next chapter (much like Kakashi and Sakura got theirs in the last one) and maybe an intro for Sasuke as well.It's gonna have 4 days without Kakashi and so Team 7 has to fend for themselves.**

* * *

FAQ Section **

_**:For Answering Questions:  
**_A section for less common questions. (Common questions can be referred to the FAQ in the prologue) **(removed August 26th '05)**

Special thanks to the following people;  
_JohnnyG  
GOD OF HATE  
omnikaze  
kageryuunohakke  
Kitsurumenokitsune  
gorilla  
hmr  
MingShun  
wolvesm0on  
Saetan  
madnarutofan  
granite69  
SmacksKiller  
XAegis-SRX  
yue  
Fic Slayr_

Thanks for all the support, you guys!

**

* * *

**

**Stats  
**'Classic WITH CHE **word counter'  
**Vers. 02.0 (26/8/05), 01.4 (12/8/05)  
Fic: 9,837  
Notes: 365

_(Does not include stats)_

Have a Great and Happy day!


	5. Fox: 04 Four Days

**Warning list**  
_COPYRIGHT_  
In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.  
_YADA YADA  
_You know the rest. Otherwise refer to previous chapters.

**Foreword:**  
Sorta transitional chapter ahead. There's a bit on Hinata and Sasuke though. They finally get their heads up. Oh, also this chappie ain't as cool as the others. Be warned!

* * *

**Fox Identity  
**by Arkhe

**Chapter Four:** Apprentice III / Four Days

A rising sun.  
Cloudless skies.  
Birds in song.

Morning was in full swing for all.

"Sorry I'm late, Naruto! I was up all night!"

He waved her off.

"It's alri-urk!"

He found himself at the receiving end of a head-slap.

"I CAN'T GET THIS TECHNIQUE TO WORK!"

For others, morning was going a bit slower than normal.

---

**The first day. **

"I'm starting on breakfast already. Hurry up." Naruto's voice called out over the hiss of the frying pan.

"What's the hurry?" Sakura walked over, procuring a plate and utensils from her shadow-clone that was setting the table.

"It's not like we have to meet our teacher today." She continued, seating herself at the table while her hosts _'sub-ordinates'_ brought about the meal.

"You're still expected at your breakfast table." He pointed out and proceeded to remove the apron he wore, before hanging it on the pantry door.

"Oh right." The pink-haired genin blanched a little, forgetting that eeny teeny detail.

"I better get ready." She quickly made her way to the bathroom as to get washed up before her meal.

Entering the bathroom, Sakura found it odd that the mirror was missing. At first, she'd been compelled to give a shout to Naruto about it but then an odd, red residue underneath the bathroom cabinet door had drawn her attention instead. Upon closer inspection, she'd found more residue, though just faintly lining within the grain of the cabinet.

"Blood...?" She murmured hesitantly.

A quick scan of the floor confirmed that there wasn't a mess. Unable to find a connection, Sakura continued with her morning routine, though her mind kept returning on this subject.

She could only reason that perhaps he'd fell into it.

Though that would be very unlike him.

Very unlike him at all.

---

"You're late."

"I don't care." Naruto had wandered over next to his teacher and, for inexplicable reasons, promptly went on to muss the bed-ridden jounin's hair. With Kakashi's eyes in his book, the silver-haired tutor had helplessly attempted to defend himself with his free arm, but Naruto succeeded in messing up his bed-hair anyway.

"Visiting hours begin long after we're supposed to meet." Sasuke deemed to correct the reason they were late.

"Well, we only got around to visiting you since you haven't bothered telling us when you will be getting out." Sakura had told her distracted teacher.

"I want status reports each morning for everything my team has accomplished the day prior, whilst I am in this predicament!" Kakashi folded his arms to appear intimidating. The effect proved impossible when his visible eye refused to distract itself off the current page of his book.

"I did a few hours of training yesterday." Sakura volunteered to lead.

"I practised on my Fire techniques once I left the hospital." Sasuke reported dryly.

"I went out for ramen for the whole day!" Naruto laughed. Then he settled on mussing his teacher's already mussed hair even further. Again the man's free arm attempted to fend the boy off, though it still proved to be a helpless defense with his attention elsewhere.

Everyone, except the blond genin, shook their heads in bemusement.

"Did you do any sort of training, Naruto?" The jounin hoped that was the case with his odd trainee... That and get him to stop with messing with his hair.

"Oh, I beat up the dummy, I guess." The orange-clad boy stopped his activities, holding a finger to his chin while he remembered.

Before Kakashi lost all hope for the boy, Naruto then also added.

"Oh! I caught up with Hinata!" He closed his eyes and grinned, tucking his arms behind his head.

"We hung out a bit too."

That sentence caused Sakura to tilt her head at the prospect.

Kakashi carefully mulled over Naruto's words, though it looked like he was carefully considering the current paragraph in his book.

Then he giggled, confirming where his focus was at that point.

"Umm... Good work all of you." Kakashi fumbled after realising that everyone was expecting an answer out of him.

"Keep it up and all of you train more."

At such a casual dismissal, Naruto lost his temper.

"How the hell do you expect to be a good instructor and a good ninja, when all you do is read that stupid perverted book?-!"

His teammates had agreed with him whole-heartedly. Kakashi merely turned his head slowly to face Naruto. There was even an eerie creaking noise that accompanied it, as if Kakashi was imperatively shocked at what he had heard. Naruto nearly felt like taking back his words.

"You may question my teaching methods..." The jounin started, his voice sounded hollow and his students found themselves a little uncomfortable.

"You may question my position..." The atmosphere darkened as Kakashi's battle aura started building, everyone took a hesitant step back.

"You may even question my skill..." His voice now deepened to a foreboding tone -an effect akin to the oblivion of the grave. The genin were now having a really bad feeling about this.

"But never..." The eye without sharingan had flashed red.

**"_Never question the Come Come series!_" **

Then there were flowers and hearts and bunnies and he hugged his book tightly and passionately.

"It's just too good!" You could practically see the little love-heart punctuating his statement.

Team 7 slumped, individual sweatdrops lined their heads. Then turned to leave in disgust, silently agreeing that the man needed a girlfriend to set him straight.

"It's a tale of loyalties, friendship, love and life! A must read for everyone!" He called out after them. "Everyone 18 and over, I mean!"

Though no one noticed, Naruto's step had briefly faltered, but he continued his exit.

---

"What're you gonna be up to Naruto?" Sakura asked. She was still a little perturbed about the thought of Naruto's visit to Hinata. Something about that thought had upset her a little, but it was his business and not hers.

Naruto carefully considered what he'd have to do today. There was that project he was still working on. And another or two also waiting... Oh and the damn mirror. In a way he was glad she didn't bring it up... But that also brought about its own suspicion too.

"I got stuff to do. Meet at our regular training spot in an hour or two."

---

The sun rose over the sky, casting shadows directly below everyone's feet. It was afternoon before Sakura had located her mentor for secret training and she found him with his back exposed, as he hunched over something just out of her view.

"Hey Naruto!" She called out.

"Hey." Came his unenthusiastic reply.

A little taken aback that he didn't even turn in her direction, she ran over to peer over his shoulder.

"What've you got the-" Her question was left hanging.

Naruto was nose-deep in reading a book.  
_THAT_ book.

Sakura had wanted to scream.  
Infact, she did.

"Pervert!" She accused, recoiling backwards with her arms held up defensively.

He didn't reply, but merely turned the page.

"I can't believe you would stoop that low to read that book!" She accused again, unable to believe that he was capable of... THAT.

He did not turn his head to dispute it. He suffered that same affliction that Kakashi had earlier -namely the loss of will to tear his eyes off the page he was reading.

"I have to admit. It is pretty good." It was a shameless admission.

Before she could scream her now sky-high annoyance, he interrupted.

"Have you learned the technique yet, apprentice?" He asked casually.

Inhale. Back to business. Exhale.

"No." Sakura winced, having most of the irritation just disperse at the serious tone he employs whenever he trains her.

"Do you still want to train?" He offered.

"I'm pretty sure you spoiled the mood for that." She replied sourly.

"Well," he turned a page, "you have something to work on. Let me know how you did tomorrow."

Sakura complied and walked off, still heated at the whole situation. Do all teachers become perverts!-?

---

It was later in that afternoon that Hinata had waited at her team's usual training spot, leaning on the training dummy.

Hinata was the heiress of the Hyuuga, possibly the most prestigious family in all of the Hidden Leaf. Because of this title, there are a great deal many expectations that come with her title.  
...Most of which, she can't meet.  
She lacks confidence to believe in herself.  
She lacks absolution to inflict pain.  
She lacks conviction to look down on others.  
It is because of all of those reasons that her father had just about given up on her and will likely pass on her heritage to her sibling.  
But it is because of all these reasons that Hinata knows she can be strong. It is this resolve that gives her enough strength to search for her own strength.

Which leads back to the current moment...

"Hey Hinata-chan!"

She looks his way and smiles. She needs a helping hand to find that strength and prove that she can be just as strong, if not stronger, than the title expected of her...

...No matter how unconventional she would have to become.

"Hello Naruto-kun." Her returned greeting had wavered a little, but she was very enthusiastic about what was to come.

He had shown up the same time last time, as they hadn't negotiated a time to meet up again.

"Did you look the scroll over last night?"

"Yes, yes I did!"

"So, what'd you find out?"

With a flourish, Hinata carefully withdrew and opened the same blue scroll Naruto had given her yesterday, animatedly pointing at the different sections as well as explaining her findings.

"I think whoever wrote this, must have wrote it before the Hidden Villages had been created." She said.

"Over here and here," Her hand pointed to various instances on the paper, "referenced events before even Konoha had been established."

A pause, pale eyes straining all over the ancient text.

"He didn't write anything about bloodlimits, so it's pretty likely that he constructed this style to survive against fighting in general."

Then Hinata had gone on to point at a different sort of handwriting, most of which, adorned the scroll right after the initial script.

"And then the second scribe had actually been the Tsunamikage! The Tidal Shadow himself!"

She indicated to the property listing, as well as a few of the notes that did have writings based on the second scribes' own opinion, easily narrowing down the owner's identity.

"He included his own variations and notes to cover for weaknesses utilising water techniques!"

Then she paused, a finger hesitantly tapped at a writing with red ink.

"But the third scribe had been really odd."

Her mood darkened.

"His notes are very cynical as he goes on to put down most of the techniques listed."

Something hardened flashed in her eyes.

"But, he does something important... He references other techniques that he felt would have been more effective! Thanks to him, I've located the replacement techniques for the areas in the scroll that's too damaged."

A small smile had spread on her face. It didn't last long.

"But here's the thing..." She pointed to a few notes that curved along a hole in the scroll. "Most of his notes avoid alot of the damage the scroll took. This person must have gotten hold of it after the Nine-tails had destroyed the village..."

There had been a silence between the two, each pondering on their own thoughts.

Naruto had known all of that prior but willingly didn't speak. Still, he surmised that the Hyuuga must've had an elaborate information network for Hinata to be able to find this much in the course of one night -a task he had completed after years in trying to remain inconspicuous!

Hinata herself had watched Naruto from the corner of her eyes. She could see he was impressed at her feat! But she wanted something ready today, so she moved on to her finishing touch.

Hinata straightened and reached into her pack, retrieving a newer scroll. Unfolding it, Naruto recognised the handwriting as Hinata's own recordings, likely based on the scroll he had granted her.

"Here are some of the references I'd looked up and some notes I had made on the technique..." She said with no small amount of pride.

Naruto took it gingerly and scanned it. His eyes widened. She had already integrated it as much as she could with some Hyuuga techniques! Apparently she was just full of surprises today!

Seeing Naruto visibly floored by her research, Hinata smiled shyly. She had worked extensively through the whole of yesterday and most of last night to put all of this together just for this meeting today.

"You wanna try it out then?" He asked her, a smile playing on his eyes.

"Yes!" Hinata hastily agreed. Then realising that she sounded too enthusiastic, she heavily blushed and added. "If you'd like..."

Naruto grinned.

---

"Hey, I think I can see your hand glowing a bit. Is that your fighting style?"

"Yes. Yes it is... Is your arm okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little numb, I guess. Hehe."

"O-oh! I'm very sorry."

"Don't be! Hey, hey. Here, try kicking your leg higher... like this!"

"Okay."

"See?"

"Oh, I see. You did an academy counter, right?"

"Yep. See, now your counter, countered mine!"

"Hehe."

"You should smile more often!"

"Oh..."

"Hey, hey! Wait, doesn't the red-ink guy say that there was a better way to do that move?"

"W-well yes... But if I do it like this, I think I'll be able to move forwards or back... See? It'll fit better with the Gentle Fist."

"Ah! Okay! That's cool!"

(1)

---

The sun had long since departed and Sakura had started preparing for bed. Being totally bushed at trying to get her failed technique to work, she had gave up to try again in the morning.

Just as she lay her head down on the pillow, she felt her head impact on something hard.

"Huh?"

Recognising the flat surface to be underneath the pillow, she lifted it up to find...  
...A neatly wrapped present.

"What the...?"

Turning the lights back on, she carefully looked it over. Expensive white wrapping paper with a pink silk bow. No card...? An admirer maybe?

It tugged at a muscle on Sakura's face, causing an amused smile.

Carefully removing the bow and opening the present the way it was wrapped, she had removed the contents and got ready for the surprise.

And what a surprise it was.

_Come Come Paradise._  
Volume I.

Her first intent had been to fling the damnable book into the furthest, darkest recess of her room. Or out the window. Or into the face of another pervert.

Whoever insulted her would have something coming to them and thus, she had managed a list of suspects, which had narrowed down to her silver-haired teacher.

Since she caught Naruto reading it earlier today, it goes to say that perhaps that perverted jounin could be providing smut to all his students!

Thus, it came as such a shock when she opened the cover to find a message written on the inside jacket.

_-Approach with a sensible state of mind.  
Naruto._

---

Five times building courage, after four glasses of water, three hours pacing, two reassuring parents and a vow of utter chastity, Sakura found herself reading. (2)

And _(despite heated denial)_ also liking it too...  
...though she did find it weird that a substantial amount of pages were blank.

* * *

**The second day.**

"Sorry I'm late, Naruto! I was up all night!"

He waved her off.

"It's alri-urk!"

He found himself at the recieving end of a punch sending him to the floor.

"I likely deserved that." He deadpanned.

"OF COURSE YOU DO!" She shouted.

He stood up and brushed himself off when he'd been caught in another hit that he could have avoided, but didn't.

"Can I get up now, or are you going to hit me again?" He asked politely.

"ONE MORE TIME!" Came back the shrill cry.

He sighed and proceeded to stand, only to be knocked down again.

"I assume you read the book then?" Naruto cut to the chase.

"HELL NO!"

He stared levelly at her from his fallen vantage point. She tried to return the stare but had failed when her blush became more and more evident.

"W-well... A l-little." She admitted.

"How'd you find it?" The question was asked casually.

"It's pretty well written, I suppose." Sakura could not stop blushing.

"How far along are you?" Another casual question.

"Half-way, I think." The wall looks mighty interesting.

"Ah, I've gotten only a third through, myself." A casual admittance.

Silence, though it was awkward to Sakura. Very awkward.

"Want to train now?" He offered.

"Yeah, sure." Sakura let all the pent-up energy flow out of her, as well as the embarrassment. Might as well put the time to good use.

It would be later that she spots a new mirror in his bathroom. (3)

But didn't question it.

---

It was a handful of hours later that both the Haruno girl and the Uzumaki boy had found themselves seated at their regular training spot, both content on leaning on a nearby tree for shade. The sun was in full swing today and the ninja council had issued a low level ban on all fire techniques today being as hot as it was.

"Can you believe Kakashi's still gonna be there for another day or two?" Naruto was the first to break the silence, sweat glistening his brow.

"I can believe Kurenai-sensei would over do it." Sakura nodded, wiping at her face with a handkerchief. Seriously, Kakashi really went too far, though the lesson had been aptly learned.

"Can you believe it's too hot to train for long?" Naruto had shook his head after emptying some of his water canteen into his hair.

"I can believe that it can get this hot once in a while." Sakura had actually leaned in when the boy shook his head, as to catch the cold droplets on her face.

Brief silence.

"Can you believe that Kanto and Keiko are twins?" Naruto tapped at his pouch, which had a novel-shaped bulge.

"I believed you'd never ask." Sakura also reached for her pouch.

Then both of them were caught up in reading. Though it was only a scant peaceful moment later, that Naruto followed up on their conversation.

"Can you believe that Sasuke turned you down again?" He strained to keep a straight face.

"I believe you can go fu-"

---

The day had gone and passed, night had slowly descended, bringing about a welcomed cool change to the much-heated atmosphere.

This night, Hinata had been pleased with herself. With her quick afternoon sparring session with Naruto (it was rather too heated to go too long), she'd developed more and more of the Gentle Fist in combination with Flowing Water for her style. She reasoned that in the course of time, she can prove herself to everyone -especially to her father.

This night, Naruto couldn't stop himself from grinning fiercely. In today's session, he'd subtly gotten Hinata into explaining oh so much on how she used the Gentle Fist style that he was getting a good idea how to use it. A few more sparring and he'd have enough information to try the chakra scalpel! Then of course there was Sakura. Come tomorrow, she would be able to use the technique he was teaching her and he would show her it's true capabilities.

This night, Sakura had been a little confused. She had finished the volume and had to admit that it was pretty good though pretty short. However, when she went back to reread her personally more memorable parts, she found that there were more pages of text than she remembered. Starting from the beginning again, she quickly skimmed parts until she reached something unfamiliar before she started reading in zest...

* * *

**The third day.**

"Sorry I'm late, Naruto! I was up all night!"

He waved her off.

"It's alri-urk!"

He found himself at the recieving end of a punch sending him to the floor. This time, he didn't try to get up.

"I hope this doesn't become a routine." He droned.

She held up a particular book, her face turning different summer hues.

"Ah." His recognition was akin to the boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"'Ah'!-? IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY!-?" Her face had long since passed the shade her hair was and now settled on a deep crimson.

"Well, you can't say the book was bad the second time around, can you?" He attempted to shrug whilst still lying down.

Red in the face, shaking and indignant, Sakura had wanted to unleash a wrath never seen before on her perverted mentor.

However...

She had to sheepishly admit the book was better with the... the... the gratuitous content.

She huffed and looked away, embarrassed with the admission, even if it was just to herself.

Naruto only dared righted his posture to a seated position.

"Well, back to training." He ordered.

"What?"

Sakura could only watch him with an astounded expression. Here he was turning her into a pervert and he had the gall to just...  
He motioned her with his hand.

"Try the technique again."

"How can you just-"

"Apprentice."

She scowled but knew his tone meant business, so she went into the correct stance and pushed chakra into the right places.

And she gaped. (4)

"Well, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

---

"Wow." Sakura inhaled with more than a little difficulty.

Just moment's prior, she and Naruto had sparred and the fox-boy had been insistent on showing how to apply some of his known techniques to which he would eventually teach her.

He approached her seated posture and held his hand out. She accepted and she was pulled to her feet.

"Okay, what now?" She asked.

"Sasuke, of course." He said. "I promised you a way to get you closer to him, didn't I?"

Sakura had wanted to slap her forehead. She had anticipated this event for so long but it somehow had slipped her mind.

_...slipped her mind? _

She couldn't ponder on that as Naruto continued.

"At two o'clock, he'll be leaving his house and heading for that Uchiha lake -you know where that is, right?"

She rolled her eyes. Of course she knew. Just about any of Sasuke's stalkers knew.

"He'll be practising his Grand Fireball technique."

"Yeah, so?"

"Get him to teach you. Easy."

That was the most stupidest plan she'd heard. Sasuke wouldn't teach his fire techniques to ANYONE. Let alone his Fan Club.

"That's the most stupidest plan I've heard. Sasuke wouldn't teach his clan's techniques to anyone, let alone to any girl who... who..." She paused to choose how to finish the sentence since fans were just a more nice way of saying 'stalker' (which she _wasn't_). "Who has a passing interest in him!"

"No, no, no. You're thinking about going about it wrong." Naruto shook his head. "And here I thought you were smart."

She grimaced and began movements to giving him a head-slap.

"So you don't want to hear it then?" He baited.

Her dormant arm had caught her attacking arm in mid-swing. The want for retribution clashed with the need for information but defense was the winner in this show down today.

"Just say it already!" She spat, having pulled away her aggressive movement.

"You have to insult him first!" He said, exasperatedly.

"Watch him do it a couple of times and then walk up to him. Tell him that was pretty decent but you bet that you could do it better. That outta be it. Rinse and repeat each day for different techniques."

Naruto placed his hands in his pockets.

"That's all there is to it."

In retrospect, it was a good plan. A VERY good plan. Then she checked her watch. Ten minutes until 2 o'clock.

"Shit! It's not enough time to get ready! I've got to wash up and get changed and..." She was just about hysterical.

"No. You don't." He interrupted.

"What?-! You're crazy! I can't go see Sasuke looking like this! It looks like I've just been through a war-zone!"

"You can and you will. It will give him incentive to teach you."

She couldn't argue that logic but... A hand went up to fix her hair only to find another hand stopping the action.

She irritably glanced to the teammate halting her hand.

"Just... go..." Naruto breathed with no small amount of being tired of the conversation.

So she did.

---

After Sasuke spat a handful of fireballs, Sakura had decided it was time to cross the pier.

"Hey Sasuke-kun." She greeted.

He didn't even bother to look over his shoulder.

"I've been watching you." Sakura continued, a little put off at the possibility of another one-sided nature of a conversation between them.

He didn't turn to say anything about that either, justifying the beginning of another one-sided conversation.  
She pulled on some false bravado, as it pained her to say the next bit.

"You're not half-bad." She barely said without it squeaking in her throat.

He froze. This definitely had Sasuke turn around, adopting an unbelieving face with a tinge of a sneer.

"...not half-bad?" His tone was incredulous bordering sarcasm.

She continued the facade, adopting a hands on hips stance.

"Yeah. I bet I could do it better." She said resolutely, though it sounded terribly unsure to herself.

He rolled his eyes.

"Pfft." He dismissed her claim, beginning to turn around and mind his business again.

Then she put up her challenge.

"Hell, I know I could! Show me the seals and I'll do it!"

He had turned around to scold her and force her to leave when for the first time, he noticed her state of dress since she approached him.

Ever since _The Incident_, Sasuke had forced to better himself and keep pushing his limits. This all boiled down to simple reason. If he could set himself at a higher level than a person his age, then he knew he was progressing well. Progressing fast enough to be able to _avenge his clan_.

Because of this, his way of thought had eventually developed for him to find a small amount of liberation in some things.

To be specific, he loved two simple things:  
_The first was the fact of him being the best.  
And the second being a challenge to undeniably prove the former._

And he saw both here today, staring back at him in emerald eyes.  
It interested him.

"These are the seals." His hands went through a few hand gestures. "Show me."

Sakura went to the end of pier, imitated his movement, then breathed in sharply and exhaled. From her mouth, erupted a ball of fire no bigger than her head. Then she'd fallen to her knees, gasping and wheezing to catch her breath. That attempt had her use far too much chakra than she expected. After a few gulps, she tilted her head to his stoic gaze, awaiting his evaluation.

Though Sasuke would never admit it, it was further than he'd gotten on his first try. And though he usually felt inclined to not having much to do with his pink-haired teammate, he did have a feeling that felt akin to dipping his foot and finding the water to be pleasant.

"Not half bad." He appraised with a smirk.

---

They were training again. Just like yesterday and the day before.

"Hey! I felt that!"

"I-I'm really sorry! I-"

"No, no, no! That felt really weird. Like, I got like... this kunai going into me but like... the skin doesn't feel it, you know?"

"O-oh... I'm r-rea-"

"No, I mean like... It doesn't hurt. I know if you went all out it'd really hurt! But like... feels like a knife going through and leaving some buzzing in some bits of my arm."

"O-oh?"

"Yeah! Do you push the chakra into someone like a knife edge or something?"

"S-sort of. The Gentle Fist requires chakra to be focused to be able to disrupt the coils to imbalance the opponent. I guess that's why it f-feels like that."

"Really? Wow, you're new style's gonna be awesome!"

"T-thank you."

"Okay, let's train that dodge now."

"Okay!"

---

Administration had been a buzz as various people entered and left the working building. Either ninja or client, there was a steady influx of both with the former appearing more and more often. It was a steady cacophony of information and exchange, the current Hokage; the Third, being present to overseer many of the happenings and his daily ritual of addressing this and that. At this time of the day, there were much less people arriving and more and more people leaving as reports were coming in less and less.

Then a particular person appeared. Unshaven, graying hair, stained clothes, a bottle of sake in hand. It was only the glasses he wore that gave any indication that there was a sort of professionalism present.

He'd approached the nearest man behind the desk -a chuunin admin, and explained as best he could that he required protection heading to a certain town, as the roads would certainly be treacherous with bandits and that he only had a set amount of money to work with.

The report was written, and handed to the Hokage seated next to the chuunin. The man was told he would receive his reply either tomorrow or the day after, arrangements for stay would be provided if proved the latter. The man consented to this and left.

The Hokage eyed the man who just exited, still staring after the exit where the man had left. Then he called out to the chuunin who dealt with the aging client, who gave his leader his attention.

"What do you make of that man?" The older man regarded his words with caution.

"I do not judge people, Hokage-sama." The younger replied.

"Please, make an evaluation."

The scarred chuunin thought back to the encounter.

"Questionable." He plucked a word easily. "He seems sincere, however I believe that this is a bigger mission than he lets on."

The Hokage nodded and scratched his beard.

"Yes, with the Wave Country in current... _disarray_, I should think someone of high calibre should accompany him."

"The mission has the requirements of a C-rank. Should we send one of our best chuunins?"

"No. I'm sure this requires a jounin effort."

"Are we to classify the mission to B or A?"

"No. I think we should send a genin team instead."

"G-genin?-!"

"A powerful team. I have a feeling that their teacher will have to be of high status. Have a message ready for Gai and..."

The Hokage paused at seeing a pug dog wearing a Leaf headband enter the room and make a beeline towards his person.

"Ah, Pakkun. To what do we owe this visit?" The Third greeted the dog as it had jumped on his desk.

"Hokage-sama." The dog bowed, touching its face to the wood formally.

"Hatake Kakashi of Team 7 requests a C-rank mission for his subordinates on his release from the hospital the day after tomorrow. He believes they are in dire need of a field lesson."

The Hokage nodded slowly.

"Thank you, there is one ready on his release."

He then immediatley signed the report he held and attached it to the dog's band. The dog bowed graciously and left.

The chuunin turned a disbelieving gaze on the Hokage.

"You.. you don't mean...?-!"

The Hokage regarded the chuunin coolly.

"Do you believe in omens, Iruka?"

---

It had been a long day for the Fox-boy. True, he had more stamina than the average ninja but it turns out that training Hinata to create a style of her own had been rather tiring as he'd proven to be a most effective punching-bag for her testing.

Though glad that she was developing the style he'd wanted for himself, he was just thankful that he'd be able to retire for the night when there came a knock on his front door.

A rather insistent knocking that just wouldn't go away. Oh yes, he knew this knock well. It dragged him out of bed before dawn a few days ago.

Upon opening the door, he found a rather jumpy-looking candy floss-haired teammate that was just about shaking with excitement.

"Are you making a habit of halting any sleep I'll ev-"

Then he found himself on the receiving end of a rib-bruising hug.

"I take it your day went well then?" He choked in between gasps.

"It was great!" She bounced.

Once he managed to pry himself out of her grasp, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the couch, her voice spilling a torrent of her day's happenings.

"-nd then I'd just gone into chakra-exhaustion so he helped me home and I fell asleep and when I woke up now, I ran all the way here to tell you about it!"

She finished and inhaled sharply, catching her breath. That run on sentence would just about have killed her normally (and possibly a handful of academy students)if she wasn't up in the clouds.

"Ah. That's..." He fumbled for an appropriate word, having not ever considered this situation plausible. After all, shouldn't the girl be running to one of her female friends to share this with?

"Pleasant." He finished lamely.

"Yeah..." Her voice agreed dreamily and she leaned into the couch, sinking until she was just about laying.

"It nearly was a dream come true." She murmured. Her exhaustion had just caught up to dull her senses as her personal mission to inform her mentor had been complete and she let her senses slowly drift away.

Naruto looked her over warily, his eyes serious and contemplating.

"So... You were able to do a Grand Fireball huh?" Naruto asked slowly, eyeing Sakura warily.

"Mmm..." She yawned audibly and her eyes fluttered before closing.

"If you want, you can train under him again... Train under him doing the Grand Fireball or some other fire technique again..."

"That would be..." She halted in mid-sentence to yawn. "Nice." Sleep just about took her.

"Pop quiz Sakura." He said soothingly, nearly whispering in her ear. "How do you do a Grand Fireball?"

Sakura unthinkingly slurred it, also additionally reminding him to breathe as much chakra in as possible -the same reminder Sasuke gave when he'd instructed her.

"Is that so?" He whispered.

"Mmmm..." She murmured and the sentence had switched to acute snoring midway.

Naruto smirked and proceeded to go through a few hand seals, only taking a brief intake of air instead of attempting to fill his lungs.

He puffed out a burst of flame as large as a handheld rubber ball.

"That sure is interesting..." His eyes narrowed and he grinned maliciously.

* * *

**The 4th day.**

"What th-" A blink. "Oh my god."

He had been seated on the opposite end, reading calmly when her voice distracted him. Sakura's wide-eyed look bore through Naruto, her hair tangled, clothes disheveled and a blanket he'd draped on her earlier was held to her chest.

"Did I fall asleep in your apartment?" She asked, though she already knew the answer to that.

He waved her off.

"It's alri-_urk_!"

He found himself at the recieving end of a punch sending him to the floor.

"Dammit! Look! This is not going to do!" He finally got sick and tired of the ridiculous nature of their mornings, which prompted him voicing his concerns.

"No, YOU look! I didn't sleep at home and my parents are going to kill me!" She reprimanded her own injustice and kicked him while he was down for good measure.

Naruto sighed. It's going to be a long day.

---

"Oh good!" He clapped his hands in glee. "You guys are right on time!"

Kakashi then proceeded with the news.

"I've already received word from the Hokage that he has approved a C-Rank mission for you guys!"

There were simultaneous whoopings (mainly Naruto) and everyone was pleased on the matter.

"So you guys take today to get some supplies ready and meet at the Gate tomorrow morning. We'll be going on a few days travel to the Mist Country."

"What's the mission?" Sasuke inquired.

"A simple guarding. We'll be escorting a bridge-builder; Tazuna, to the Mist Country. That's all."

---

Like at certain times everyday, Naruto once again stands in a majestic clearing, housing a glorious tree whose branches stretched into the heavens.

Only it is clear the tree has seen better days.

Most leaves in its care are in many shades of brown, an accountable amount of branches are bare, the bark of the tree has turned brittle and rotten leaves cluster its base.

Normally, it would be an easy assumption that winter is fast approaching...  
But at the borders of the Hidden Leaf, winter is not a possibility.  
The cause is within eye's reach -the parasite that binds to the tree.

Deep varying shades of green with streaks of unnatural bright red in conjunction with razor-sharp leaves and a handful of sturdy thorns, the creeper is truly a horror among vegetation, as it drains the life out of its snared age-old victim -reducing it more akin to lumber best used for kindle with the passing day.

Naruto wiped the blood off the closing cut on his wrist and grinned, looking up and down his project, admiring the work.

Then he notices _it_.

A metallic hilt embedded in the creeper's base.

The grin grows larger.

Likely, the roots had dragged the weapon into itself in the leeches need for sustenance... With the integration in plain view, the amalgam was a success!

His hand reached for the steel and upon a light tug, the creeper had pulled it closer.

Ah. Not _'ripe'_ yet. Perhaps when the vine will willingly let it go or if there is no more progress to be made, the weapon would assumably be ready.

And with the slow down already in progress, it looked to be the project might be ready any time soon, though he hoped his vacation won't complicate things. Especially when the plant can easily draw so much attention all by itself.

---

The rest of the afternoon consisted of a meeting with Hinata about his mission, followed by shopping with Sakura for preparing for the coming day, using some of it as a part-time training exercise for his apprentice.

When all was said and done, they parted ways. Naruto was well on his way home, keeping close to some shop entrances when he'd inadvertently bumped into someone stepping outside.

Naruto apologised profusely as he picked himself up and reached for his scattered purchases.

"...Naruto?" The man he bumped into, queried.

At that voice, Naruto forced himself to look up.

"Iruka-sensei...?"

It was some minutes of an exchange of excited greetings that the blond boy's former teacher had offered to treat them out for dinner, to which Naruto accepted grandly.

---

"-nd we're going to have a mission tomorrow! A C-Rank one too!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Oh really? They usually only give chuunins those!" Iruka faked the happy reply. He was actually very _unhappy_ with the thought.

"Yeah! It's gonna be a protection one!" Naruto made a show of punching the air. "I am so gonna kick some ninja ass!"

Iruka had to laugh, though it sounded too forced. He really hoped that would not be the case.

"Well, some C-Rank missions are pretty safe. You might not even encounter enemies, let alone other ninja." He was mostly reassuring himself at this point.

"Aaaw... That's no fun!" Naruto pouted.

Before they could continue the conversation, a man stumbled into their vicinity, a bottle of sake in hand.

"Hey kid!" He barked, facing Naruto's direction.

Both Naruto and Iruka recoiled a little at his intoxicated breath.

"You shouldn't be so happy about having to fight." He took a swig before continuing.

"It can get you killed."

Naruto slammed his palms hard on the counter.

"I'll be Hokage someday! So I have to fight!"

The man squinted at Naruto's blue eyes, his anger rising with each second. Iruka was just about ready to jump inbetween them when the man's fierce expression fell.

"Whatever kid." He sighed and headed for the exit. "Doesn't matter. Even things like building a bridge can get someone killed nowadays..."

While outwardly Naruto still looked upset, inwards, his mind was working up a storm. He had made the connections that this man must have been Tazuna; the bridge builder his team had been assigned to protect -after all, who needs a bridge in the middle of a forest? But the man's drunken demeanor and those mysterious parting words... Naruto had to wonder whether there was more to this story.

Was his team getting in over their heads?

Before Naruto could pursue the man, a hand grabbed onto his arm, stopping any sort of progress. The fox-boy tried to shake free and then looked up to the offending person to find...

"Iruka..." Naruto had the grace to blush. He'd just about forgotten the chuunin he ate with.

"Now Naruto, you shouldn't get yourself so worked up." The older young man scolded. He stopped Naruto since he also knew that was the same man for the same mission that the orange-clad boy was being assigned to, and planned on giving Naruto some last minute tips about missions. Hopefully, his instincts were wrong and Team 7 won't be seeing alot of action... Or at least Kakashi would handle it sensibly enough and call it off if it should come to that.

"Come on, I think we ought to take a walk. We haven't caught up since..." Iruka paused to try to think back to the last time he and Naruto spoke.

"The evening of _that_ night." Naruto supplemented, frowning a little.

Iruka peered at the boy's darkened features.

"Yes. The eve of your graduation."

That conversation led things to go silent, as both people recalled the events of that faithful night as they walked...

It was on the clear evening without a person in the vicinity that Iruka decided on pursuing that conversation before they went their separate ways.

"Are you thinking about _that_ night, Naruto?"

Naruto inwardly sighed. He put his emotions in check and proceeded.

"Yes."

"Does it bother you?"

"No. Everything makes sense now."

Iruka didn't ask, though he raised his brows. Not in a curious fashion, but an understanding one.

"Why everyone gave me those looks. I never understood until that night." Naruto continued.

"Even you looked at me like that, a long time ago." This was punctuated with a light wince.

Iruka was taken aback. He himself couldn't even remember that far. The many good memories he shared with the blond boy already paved most of those old ones.

"I-I... I'm sorry I ever did that." He apologised.

"You shouldn't be. After what I did 12 years ago..." Naruto looked away.

"12 years ago...?" Iruka was a little confused at this point, but was hoping it wasn't going in the direction he thought it was going.

"Yeah, when I was the..." The blond boy couldn't finish it. Even if he held his emotions in check, he found he could not finish that sentence. Not whilst in the company of someone by all rights should hate him, but instead, was one of his closest friends.

Iruka's eyes widened, realising the implication.

"_NO!_ No, no, no! Don't say that! Didn't anyone tell you?-!" He cried out, shaking his head disbelievingly.

"Yeah, you and Mizuki said so." Naruto's brows furrowed in discontent and light confusion. He was already finding it pretty awkward as it was.

Iruka froze, shocked. Hadn't even the Hokage told the boy he was the vessel? Surely he would have said so...

Unless it was supposed to come from himself... The Hokage must have expected him, Naruto's most closest person, to explain things...

Oh God...

Placing a reassuring arm on Naruto's shoulders, Iruka bent lower to be able to speak to the boy at his eye level.

"No Naruto! You aren't the Fox!"

Time stood still for Naruto.

"I... I'm not...?"

The whiskered genin found his throat constricting.

"You're... You're the vessel the Fourth chose to be able to contain the demon!"

"V-vessel?"

The happenings proceeded were like that out of a dream. Iruka had gone on to explain that the Fourth required a newborn child, one whose Inner Coils did not even begin to form as to be able to control the Fox's immense malevolent chakra. The chuunin also went on to apologise time and time again for his own thinking on even blaming the boy for his parents' murder.

But Naruto was only faintly listening. His mind was far away. _Very far away._

Like out of a movie, the _Fox-vessel_ saw himself finish the walk, bid Iruka a good night as they reached his apartment and automatically begin with all his preparations for the end of the day.

Only when he caught his empty gaze within the mirror, did he regain his conscious thoughts.

His _belief_...

His _entire life_ had been _shattered_ in one night...

And for the first time in 6 years, he felt _fearful_ and _insignificant_.

He looked to his hands. _Human hands..._

One of his hands was shaking terribly and only became more and more obvious with the passing second.

He wanted it to stop...

He needed it to stop...

He needed it to stop so badly...

How come he couldn't stop it...?

Where was his control?-!

He needed control!

His free hand went to grab the shaking forearm.

He felt something... Something jagged... Piercing...

And the shaking stopped. The arm went limp.

He could lift it at the elbow, otherwise it was of no use to him.

It was clear that he'd replicated a certain technique on the spur of the moment. But he didn't try to sort out how he did it or what the conditions were that allowed that to happen. It just didn't matter to him. He couldn't find the heart to research it.

Blue eyes met blue eyes again.

"How could things change so much in one night?" Naruto mumbled aloud to his shaking visage.

It brought a foul taste to his mouth.

He threw up into the sink and kept doing so until he was dry-heaving.

Before long, he was under the spray of his shower, still fully clothed. The cold water had wormed its way through his hair, matting it to his face, mixing with tears. His clothes darkened and stuck closer to his form, gaining weight because of the moisture. The water at the bottom turned brown with dirt as his ninja-sandals were unwittingly cleansed.

Not caring that the water was cold.  
Not caring that his arm was useless.  
Just not caring about anything.

"Shit."

Forcing his back to lean on the wall, he slammed the back of his head against it. And again and again and again, cracking a tile or two. Then he slowly let himself slide down, upon sitting on the floor he folded his legs to his chest.

"I hate this place."

_End Chapter Four_

Feedback, constructive criticism and flames welcomed.  
I'll take it like a duck takes to water.

* * *

(1) I didn't add details to what Hinata's learning since you'll see that later.  
(2) You can sorta read this sentence to the tune of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' only start at the chorus of 5 golden rings.  
(3) The reattaining another mirror will get its own piece in _Fox Identity: Lost Segments_. Coming soon.  
(4) Whether or not you caught on to what the technique is, it will be revealed during the chuunin exam. Her training in it will be published as a lost chapter as well. **

* * *

**

**Author's Notes:  
**Hmm... What to say? This piece is mainly a transition piece. Some going ons between Sakura/Naruto, Sakura/Sasuke, Naruto/Hinata... It was pretty hard doing the whole Saku/Sasu or Naru/Hina since I really can't picture those couples together and on top of that, trying to make something between all of them. Oh, i know they could look good together but any fic I've read had them already paired, not drifting together. It's kind of disconcerting. But I'm trying as best I can.

Keep in mind this is not a romance fic. Actually, throw the whole pairings thought out your head.

Oh, and apologies if you think it's all happening too fast. I've actually tried to plot the whole of the Naruto series on a time-frame and I'm trying to fit this to that.

Not much else to say. Except... The next chapter: Enter the Devil of the Mist! (Not the title, just saying Zabuza and Haku are going to show up next one).

**

* * *

****FAQ Section **

_**:For Answering Questions:  
**_A section for less common questions. **(removed 15th October '05)**

A special thanks to the following people;  
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Once again, thanks to all of you for your support!

* * *

**Stats  
**'Classic WITH CHE **word counter'  
**Vers. 01.3 (25/8/05) 01.4 (15/10/05)  
Fic: 7,919  
Notes: 367 

_(Does not include stats)_

Have a Great and Happy day!


	6. Fox: 05a Shattered Ocean

**Warning list  
**_COPYRIGHT_  
In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.  
_YADA YADA  
_You know the rest. Otherwise refer to previous chapters.

**Foreword:**  
This is half of the original 5th chapter, thus aptly named Fox05a. But it's still long enough to warrant a hot cocoa. Trust me.

* * *

**Fox Identity  
**by Arkhe

**Chapter Five _Alpha_:** Shattered Ocean

**Drift Wood**

It was cloudy today.

The gray tufts were trekking across the sky and the celestial ceiling grew darker by the hour. The golden orb will eventually plunge into the earth and signal the evening.

It was foreboding.

It mirrored the feelings that Team 7 and their client felt, though it was probably more disturbing that their loudest member; the Uzumaki boy, was silent.

Silent and neutral.

Both features of which, were foreign to the usually loud and exuberant child.

And this worried everyone.

---

After carefully calculating the risks, Kakashi held a hand up and halted the journey.

"Nightfall will be just around the corner. We'll camp off the road and start again before dawn." The cycloptic team commander sortied.

And so duties were handed and completed and soon everyone had gathered around an open flame, eating quietly. The tense silence hung precariously until Sakura grew sick and tired of it and she went on to broach the subject of their current concern -Uzumaki Naruto's behaviour.

"You've been pretty gloomy, Naruto." She openly noted. "Is something the matter?"

Naruto kept eating without missing a beat, so it was easy to assume he missed the question directed at him. Sakura went on to repeat herself when he'd interrupted.

"It's nothing." He answered, finishing the last of his small meal and leaned back on the tree, looking to the stars.

"It's probably because he froze at the first action we see." The Uchiha snidely remarks, though he and the others know it's not true. Naruto had been like this since they'd met up at the gate. He'd only briefly showed anger during the skirmish, when he'd stabbed his hand to drain the poison and pushed to continue the mission. But the expression was fleeting.

All the same, Sasuke's bait hadn't worked.

The dark-haired boy grimaced at how he failed to get under Naruto's skin. Usually, he'd be able to rile his teammate up but it seems the blond had lost his luster. Surely whatever it is, the obnoxious boy would bounce back in no time, the avenger thinks.

Kakashi had considered that whatever could have set off this change in Naruto had caught the boy completely unaware. Perhaps something happened the night before...? His instinct is adamant about the subject, so he files it away and vows to follow it up when he can.

Sakura was the most confused about it than the others. She knows that she's possibly the only person who knows Naruto more than nearly anyone else (with possibly the exception of Iruka) and that incident a few hours back down the road shouldn't have gotten to him. Perhaps when they're alone, he'll confide his troubles with her, she reasons, but she'll let it go for now.

Tazuna's main concern lies with his family. However, with the tense atmosphere, his thoughts also flit to the orange-clad ninja. If his memory is accurate, he had observed the boy last night when he'd drunkenly stumbled from place to place. The boy had been gleefully loud back then. Damn, he'd been too drunk to remember if he said something to upset the boy. Then before he can fully think on this, he thinks back to his own daughter and grandson and hopes they are still in good health.

Naruto himself stays quiet. He'd gone about this morning on autopilot. Waking, eating, cleaning and readying himself for the mission. But he found no will to do more so like he'd normally do.

No will to learn how he'd severed the bone or nerves or whatever of his right arm last night.  
No will to plaster his generic grin to his face.  
No will even to fight when they'd been attacked.

The only will he had, was to push the mission to continue.

Because he hadn't the will to go back.

---

Kakashi set up watch duty and had volunteered the first shift. He'd taken a vantage point into a nearby tree, letting his group ease in for the night.

Only one person did not do so.

The Hatake jounin had observed the boy from time to time as he surveyed the forest. Though when his charge created a shadow replication to merely sit opposite himself and just watch the former, the silver-haired jounin was more than curious as to what Naruto was up to.

Kakashi noted the boy seemingly examine his clone's facial features and then, oddly enough, the hand on which he'd drained the blood. It was only some few minutes later, Naruto appeared placid and dismissed the clone, before settling in a calm and seated posture.

Kakashi recognised it as an act of meditation. But why would the boy meditate...?

---

Eventually everyone had their turn to be sentry. Morning came with no complications and all set out again, heading towards the coastline.

This time, Naruto seemed to be in a better mood. Though he didn't wear his normal grin, he was more responsive in his actions -even going as far as giving decent small talk or occasionally throw Sasuke's insults back at him. The tension had eased a little, as everyone was thankful for the change.

Though Naruto's not so quiet demeanor hadn't quelled his peace of mind, he'd still found a sort of solace just a few scant hours ago.

Last night, he'd created a replication to question himself. He'd quietly examined his physical aspects of how everyone saw him. The cut he'd inflicted earlier was gone. It also happened to be the same hand he'd damaged the night before. A brief twinge of curiousity rose as to how he could dissect and replicate the ability but he'd pushed the feeling down in favour of more important matters. Like pursuing the thought of his odd healing habits and how exactly it ties in with his... change in situation.

The 'whiskers' incident popped up vividly.

He tried to peel the skin off a long time ago. A non-descript scar to remove the 'whiskers' seemed like a good trade. But the skin healed perfectly and the 'whiskers' were back again the following day.

It wasn't normal. Other people injured themselves and are always reminded of what happened with their telltale scars.

The 'whiskers' still manage to fit that description. His only sole reminder of a mistake he'd made...  
...or rather a mistake he hadn't made (?).

At least that was ironically certain. He wasn't sure where he stood now. Seeing him sit opposite himself to sort out those questions had not been very enlightening. But he knew he was on the right steps to finding something. He was just going about it wrong.

That's when he'd decided to meditate and return to a place he'd found on heightened emotions. This time, he'd find it with the use of none. It was the emptiness that found him.

And though he'd found his world changed...  
The cage had not altered, nor did the sole inhabitant's corpse move.

He knew there may have been a truth in words.  
But there was a truth here also.

A single picture tells a thousand words.

And so Naruto spent the remainder of the time staring into the abyss.

---

After the confrontation with Zabuza, Team 7 fell back and took their wounded teacher to Tazuna's dwelling. Introductions were made, beddings arranged and each member had eased between taking temporary rests or looking over their comatose teacher.

Kakashi had lay unconscious in a temporary bedding set on the floor.

Sakura was currently replacing the damp cloth resting on Kakashi's forehead.

Sasuke had situated himself with his back against a wall and generally kept watched over all entrances in sight.

Tazuna alternated between checking his building plans and drinking.

Tsunami had entered the room and exited randomly, doing all sorts of household duties, most of the time scolding her father for drinking on the job. ("Just choose one and stick to it! No! You're not drinking!")

Inari was hardly ever around. The boy had mostly stuck to his room or generally being mopey at the pier area around his home. However, when he was in the area, he would scowl at the ninjas and proceeded to snob them off at any opportunity.

Naruto had been quietly observing everyone indirectly. Then he'd randomly chosen to bring up something he'd remembered off-handedly.

"Tazuna."

Though meant for the aging architect, it came from the previously mostly quiet Naruto and thus caught everyone's attention.

"Yes, Naruto?"

The genin had furrowed his brows and eyed the overhead clouds out of the nearest window.

"I heard there was an old Hidden Village near here somewhere."

At the mention of the village, both Tazuna and his granddaughter had reacted stiffly. Sakura and Sasuke's attention latched on the subject quickly, their curiousity piqued.

"No... There's no Hidden Villages around here, Naruto." Tazuna wiped a little sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. "At least not anymore..."

"The Hidden Ocean." Sakura gasped, recognising the subject.

"...Yes, the Hidden Ocean." Tazuna reluctantly forced the words through clenched teeth.

"From what I know, the Hidden Ocean was located around these parts, and though newly built, their affinity to water was par to none." Tsunami had inputted her piece, though she was being a little uncomfortable with the subject and avoided eye contact as she said so.

"But something happened...?" Sasuke interjected, now interested in the idea of another Hidden Village.

"The Hidden Ocean came under attack by the Kyuubi." Tazuna tiredly explained after hesitating.

The mention of the Nine-tails had crisply derailed the genin's curious advances and they winced, dropping the subject. The Demon Fox was considered taboo in the Leaf and they knew when to avoid such unwanted discussions.

Noticing the grim faces, Tsunami brought out a plate of snacks, handing it the trainee ninjas before seating herself and fully joining and restarting the conversation.

"The legend was that the demon Fox, the Nine-tails, had come across the newly formed Hidden Ocean..." She started the topic again, at least until she caught Tazuna glaring at her. Shooting him a defiant look, she reverted back to a smile for her guests and continued (though the silent exchanged had not gone unnoticed).

"At the time, it had been revered as the avatar of the village and there was prosperity. However, somehow they had angered the Fox. The insult had it bring its hell-bound wrath onto the ocean and tore the water asunder, raising land where there wasn't, sinking whatever was already there and finally scattering the Hidden Ocean to the ends of the world." She conversationally weaved the tale through, despite a little unwavering here and there. The thought of the Fox inspired that in everyone though.

"I wonder if that's why Wave looks cut up in the maps." Naruto openly pondered.

"I've read books that say the creations of the Hidden Mist and the Hidden Rain stem from the destruction of the Hidden Ocean. Most of which were evacuated genins and had lost most of their more valuable expertise, though many still tried to resurrect many of the dead arts." Sakura recalled from her many history books.

"I bet that anything important has already been lost or looted." Sasuke inputted his piece.

"You're all correct there." Tazuna nodded at the genin's comments. "Few of the inhabitants of the Wave Country were either the remnants of the Hidden Ocean -civilian or ninja, and the rest have been treasure hunters or wanderers. We are rather out of the way."

Momentarily pausing to take a sip of his sake, Tazuna let his audience digest that before continuing.

"But there are still some Ocean ruins if you look for them. Some of them are said to be directly from the village itself."

"Like the village centre-piece." Tsunami offered, a sly smile playing on her lips.

"Yes!" Tazuna pointed forwards abruptly at the memory and then faced the genin excitedly.

"You see, this village is built around a broken but super-built tower that looks to have fallen from the sky!" The aging architect gestured wildly and went into how the tower had been his inspiration for his career choice when he was a lad.

But no sooner had he finished, that same energy was as fleeting as it was in coming. It slipped out of him as his eyes clouded and he took another sip of his sake.

"But despite all it's lavishes, it has still fallen out of the sky..." He stated solemnly. "Such is the power of the Fox."

There was a moment of silence between everyone.

"Lucky for us, the Fourth Hokage defeated the Nine-tails." Sakura reassured them. This quickly had Tazuna's attention as he'd only heard third-hand of the Fox's defeat and was quite excitable at the confirmation.

Naruto stopped paying attention at this point.

"Yeah... Lucky for us." Naruto mumbled under his breath.

---

It was some time later that Naruto found himself outside, breathing in the fresh ocean air. The water looked enticing, but he didn't dare step down on it.

For one thing, he knew there was a current underfoot as little waves lapped at the pier legs. Truth was, he never practised walking on a current, just on calm water. He'd never planned on walking over a current as he never found a need to. Planning to lay siege to a city devoid of great expanses of water crossed out the need to expand on that kind of knowledge.

And for another... Submitting to his yearnings would undoubtedly bring up unwanted attention. If he gives someone a chance to see his abilities, there is a huge likelihood that it will hap--

"Naruto."

--pen. As is expected.

"Sakura."

The pink-haired ninja stepped up next to her teammate and took in the view and the ocean smells, savouring the feeling. The sun was in the horizon, casting both sea and sky in warm colours. A smile flitted across her face as she absorbed the surroundings. She turned to the only thing that seemed out of place of the moment.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"It's something I got to figure out myself." He sighed aloud.

She sank back a little, eyes falling downcast to her feet. She kept from replying for a time.

"Everyone's been worried about you." Her tone was low.

"The sooner I figure this out, the better." He replied. "I'm gonna head into the woods."

Without anything else to add to their conversation, Sakura watched him go.  
Unknownst to her, someone else was watching her.

---

For the past hour or so, including the duration of the discussion about a destroyed Hidden Village, Sasuke had been leaning against the wall. He'd managed to keep a tight focus from his position as it had clear views of all possible entrances into the room, thus allowing him to react on a moments notice should there be trouble. One such entrance happened to be a window -which the view may not have been particularly interesting if it weren't for what was happening at the moment.

When Sakura stepped into it's line of sight, he paid attention. There was a chance she'd engaged contact with an enemy. However, Sakura seemed to start a conversation with someone just out of his view, having Sasuke conclude that whoever she was speaking to should be an ally. Knowing everyone else was accounted for except one, he'd predicted it was Naruto and he'd been correct -the blond stepped into his field of vision and out again. Then he'd looked over at the remaining person he could still see, noting her worried expression over assumably watching the other boy go.

Something about that irked him.

---

"Naruto."

He'd watched on as Naruto lifted his head and opened his eyes to give him his undivided attention.

"Kakashi-sensei."

It was a few hours into the evening that heralded Kakashi's awakening. However, it was far from pleasant as the jounin had gone on to hastily explain his realisation that Zabuza is likely to return and that the genin will need training exercises starting tomorrow morning.

It was only just before he finished their briefing that he'd realised his orange-clad student wasn't among them. Sakura directed her teacher in the right direction and that's what led the jounin to be outside limping through a forest.

"What are you doing here all by yourself, Naruto?" The question was basic but there was something underlying. He'd caught the loud boy meditating again.

"Just thinking." The blond boy tiredly replied.

Kakashi tilted his head and eyed Naruto's sitting stance inquisitively.

"One of the monks at the shrine told me to sit like this, cause it helps you think." Naruto explained whilst unfolding his legs and stretching.

"I think that monk was telling me a crock of shit to make me go away."

Kakashi hadn't bothered to say anything to let Naruto flex his leg muscles to get the blood flowing. It was only when Naruto gave an experimental jump when he was standing, that the student decided on furthering the conversation.

"So, you okay now?" Naruto pointed to the homemade crutches.

"I should be asking you that." Came the suggestive reply.

Naruto looked Kakashi in the eye, but the older male didn't back down. The blond boy had considered lying to his teacher, but the action would likely be seen through, then he'd be under even more suspicion. Naruto shifted uneasily on his feet and gave the most honest answer he knew.

"I don't know." He said in a resigned tone.

Naruto slumped against a tree before continuing.

"It's about that rule."

Kakashi nodded slowly, his mind reviewing every possible scenario this could lead to. Unable to see deceit in his charge's eyes, Kakashi decided to prop himself up on a nearby tree, as to be able to ready for the coming confrontation -whether physical or psychological. Anything involving that damn rule, especially when it's coming from the boy directly connected to the rule, was a very bad sign.

"Can you start from the start?"

Much to Kakashi's relief, the fox-vessel started a long-winded story from the whole Mizuki affair and explained how both Iruka and Mizuki had titled him the Nine-tails. He'd gone on to about how he'd avoided Iruka from then on because of how uncomfortable he'd been about his involvement with Iruka's parents. Then Naruto finished it with how the night before, Iruka had treated him to dinner.

In a stroke of on-the-spot brilliance, Naruto purposely failed to mention the talk involved afterwards.

Thus Kakashi was led to assume that Naruto did not know of his vessel status and proceeded to impart that knowledge on his distraught student. The silver-haired jounin recalled the events of the night. From the village's defense, to the Fourth's last stand, to the Third's re-ascension and his subsequent explanations of happenings and the implementation of the rules now in place; Kakashi told at length, Naruto's story.

"You are only the vessel Naruto. Don't let anyone judge you otherwise." He finished.

Naruto gave a small smile and thanked his teacher for his talk. Kakashi had been quite glad that there wasn't any sort of unknown territory he'd have to cross and just merely gave Naruto the heads up about being up at dawn tomorrow for training, before bidding a farewell.

Though to Kakashi, a little nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach had been screaming that it was all too easy. But he'd pushed it down. He'd assumed it was the same sort of prejudice the civilian populace pinned on Naruto, instead of seeing the boy as he truly is.

---

Naruto watched his teacher head off into the budding darkness and back to their base of operations. Then he'd settled back to seating and looked deep into himself.

He'd soon found himself on the outside of a large set of bars again -a place he found himself possibly regularly visiting to contemplate on things.

Closing his eyes, he focused on drawing red chakra from behind the gate. The telltale signs began with his pupils tinting red and becoming slitted underneath his closed eyelids.

He knew the chakra was coming to him... He could feel it.

And so he stopped, opening his eyes to inspect what was occurring.

When he did so, the seal wavered to a personal breeze and the writings on it began to glow. From there, the glow started to spread as more and more runes surrounding the seal had begun to _'infect'_ the surrounding bars, ceilings, walls and even the floor! It wasn't long before the whole area (aside from the hallways of where he'd started) was covered in runes. Then the ankle deep water drifted to a current, drawing itself into the cage. It was only a light tug, but he'd felt it.

The conclusion was simple.

When he drew on the Fox, the Fox would also draw on him afterwards to compensate.

It was confusing.

For one thing, it was clear the Fox was dead. Yet it drew energy to it like it was alive.

And for another... He wasn't sure what the Fox drew on. He hadn't felt weakened afterwards. A little mentally tired, but physically he was in top form!

Both Kakashi and Iruka's story had collaborated rather well. But both still left much to be confirmed...

So the question was: "Why would a body be sealed if it wasn't alive?" By everyone's account, the Fox was alive and bloodthirsty and attempted to destroy the Leaf. And when the Fourth had appeared and went on to seal the beast... something else happened.

Something wasn't adding up.

Naruto focused on his reflection in the ankle deep water. Red eyes stared back at him.

"What am I?" Naruto half-growled as his emotions simmered.

The runes grew brighter and there was a shift in the air.

_---_

**The Calm Seas**

The coming dawn had Team 7 gather and Kakashi dispatched his team to the wooded area near the house. He then dictated and demonstrated the tree-walking exercise.

Sakura had did well, providing she already knew the skill, but had not said so. Truth be told, she had picked up the skill on her first try as well. This was probably due to the fact that she hadn't come from a ninja family (technically a family out of the ninja business for generations), so it was easier for her to channel chakra since she didn't have anyone influence her on how it should be done.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had some difficulty. But for entirely different reasons than the other... Which soon became the same reason altogether.

Sasuke had never touched on using chakra without the aid of handseals, and thus had the challenge of trying to walk up the tree on pure chakra definition alone. Not such a difficult ability since he had been trained in the use of chakra when he was young, but the difficulty had been to keep up the use of chakra, whereas all his fire techniques only needed an explosive burst.

Naruto's difficulty came about that he was holding back and kept appearances by pretending to fail. But in the middle of pretending, Naruto eventually had to stop the facade. He'd painfully realised that when he'd first self-taught himself to walk on vertical surfaces, he'd pushed himself far enough to know how to do it successfully...  
...And therein lay the problem. He never practised it enough to need to be able to travel a long distance -he'd only trained to go the distance of a regular wall's height. Couple this with only practising to not get out of practise and the fact that he'd overlooked this part of training in favour for stamina and a deeper chakra well, Naruto concluded he'd still be classified as a beginner at the technique. It really pissed him off.

At this time, all three genins coincidently met each other's eyes. Then each grit their teeth and resumed to where they left off, all striving to correct what each lacked.

Kakashi watched over his students until it was time for Tazuna to over-see how his bridge was getting built. At the last second, the injured jounin chose to stand guard himself instead of assigning it to Sakura. It was for the reason that he'd seen a fiery determination in Sakura's eyes, which she just didn't have in normal training sessions and thus believed her to be better off training here and now rather than accompany Tazuna. And so he left, leaving the trainees to their work.

With their teacher gone and seemingly only in the vicinity of his teammates, Naruto went to plotting how to further their own training. He would act in an hour after Team 7's teacher had departed.

---

"Psst! Can you give me advice on tree-walking?" Naruto cupped a hand over his mouth and whispered towards his pink-haired teammate. 

Sakura looked oddly at him and leaned in.

"So, what is it that you really want?" She whispered back in a lower tone, a smirk dancing on her features as she was unable to contain her _Inner _excitement of what the Naruto she knew was up to.

There was a gleam in his eye as he replied.

"Go back to the house and sit on the pier, out of sight. Then gather chakra to your feet and make sure you keep your feet above water. You'll need to apply a constant surge of chakra to keep afloat though, since you'll need to not only neutralise your body weight, but also to match the current and flow of water."

"Water-walking?" Sakura gasped, while _Inner Sakura_ spun around dizzily ecstatic on the subject.

"Don't actually walk on water though." He added. "Come back when you think you've got it down and are rested enough. I'll signal you."

"How will I know what your signal is?" Sakura wanted clarification.

"You'll know." He replied vaguely, brushing at his pants to ready to stand up.

"Good to know you're feeling better." She genuinely smiled.

He returned her a gracious grin before standing up, thanking her loudly for her time and hurried away to begin practising again. Sakura took her leave and headed for the house to begin her instruction.

-  
Naruto internally rejoiced. Honestly, he'd preferred walking on water than on vertical surfaces for various reasons.  
The first had been because unlike tree climbing, water-walking was easier because it gave more leeway in chakra control. Decent control would keep you above water. Precise control just didn't make ripples.  
The second reason was the pressure of gravity. When standing horizontally, gravity adds quite alot of weight on the head. In short, it gives hell to the ankles unless standing upside down. The equivalent of this for water-walking, would be whilst performing with a current underway.  
Finally, the last reason was that water-walking was very taxing on chakra and he was grateful that it helped him build quite the reservoir so he was very familiar with it.  
It was for all these reasons that Naruto had managed to pick up water-walking before tree-walking a few years back and he was looking forward to being back on familiar 'ground' in due time.  
-

Some time later, Sakura had returned and sat by her own tree, recuperating from the amount of chakra she'd spent. Whilst Sasuke had progressed far, Naruto seemed to not have made much progress at all and seemingly had given up and now lay on the grass.

That was up until...

"I'm BORED." He whined aloud.

"Geeze Naruto, what did you want to do then?" Sakura rolled her eyes.

Naruto jogged over to her and playfully tapped her shoulder.

"Tag! You're it!"

Sakura gave him an incredulous look before it slowly dawned on her. Naruto was about to start grinning, when she'd tagged him back. He attempted to tag her again but she'd leaped out of his way and ran up into a nearby tree -effectively stopping Naruto's ability to tag her back.

So he turned to their remaining teammate.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

A grin washed over the blond boy's face and he'd began sprinting towards the dark-haired boy.

Though Sasuke knew the game was beneath him...  
...he scrambled up a tree because there was no way in hell he'd let dead-last beat him in anyway possible.

He'd managed to get to a branch just out of Naruto's reach and smirked at seeing the blond boy failing at his attempt to climb the tree and pass the 'tag' along. A few more failed attempts had Naruto stop and stamp his foot in disappointment, ranting and raving at the Uchiha. Meanwhile, Sakura had left her perch and attempted to sneak away when she'd _accidentally_ stepped on a dried twig.

**-crack-**

It immediately caught Naruto and Sasuke's attention. Caught in the act, Sakura made a break for it and Naruto had ran after her in hot pursuit. Her dash to the house was cut short as an orange-clad genin fell from the sky and landed in a crouch near the door -effectively cutting off the direct route to get inside the house.

Skidding to a halt, the pink-haired girl briefly looked over her shoulder to see shadow replications converging on her. Her only route left, had been the pier the house was built on, circle the residence and exit the other side.

So that's where she ran.

Sasuke shook his head. He'd surmised that his female teammate was possibly duller than the dead-last to head in that direction. And just like Sasuke predicted, other replications went to cover the other exit.

Seeing that her exit was taken, Sakura halted at the corner edge of the pier, mentally preparing herself for the only exit planned. The various Naruto's had stopped at the entrance points and a few scrambled on top of the roof. Seemingly, only a single Naruto (likely the original) stepped out to approach Sakura.

"Looks like I got you now!" He laughed.

He stalked nearer and nearer and Sakura hurriedly glanced between Naruto and the water.

"Just focus." She hissed to herself. "Don't think about it, just do it."

Naruto made a mad dash forwards and Sakura took a deep breath and stepped off.

Sasuke's eyes widened.  
Naruto allowed himself a brief prideful smile.  
Inner Sakura whooped up a storm.  
Sakura stood on water!

Seeing herself perched on the water, Sakura gasped excitedly but cut it short, as Naruto lunged on her position, thus she forced a few experimental steps away.

The orange-clad boy seemed to suddenly realise where exactly Sakura was standing and vainly tried to stop. Unfortunately, he skidded and the momentum had still caused him to careen over the edge.

"Aaaaargh-"

**-splash-**

Sasuke jumped off his perch and ran over disbelievingly.

There were dual mumbles of "Sakura", one had been delivered sputtering through the amount of water that was nearly inhaled, though both were teemed with astonishment.

"C'mon on guys! It's not that hard!" She giggled, motioning them to join her.

---

It was some hours later that Kakashi returned back to Tazuna's home for lunch when he was stunned to find his genin team playing tag on top of the water. In fact, they were so involved with the game, they hadn't noticed their teacher at the pier.

"Ahem."

Both Sakura and Sasuke looked up, their concentration had wavered at the surprise and so sunk a little, but not past their knees. Naruto, however, hadn't been quite so lucky.

**-splash-**

When he came up again for air, Kakashi had already pandered over to where Naruto was flailing and pulled him up by the scruff of the shirt. A curious eye was cast over his team.

"Did I miss something?"

---

Sakura gave out the (slightly altered) explanations and Kakashi had congratulated everyone, especially Sakura for managing to figure it out and even having turned his lesson into a simpler learning curve!

Tazuna even had to speculate about how Sakura could possibly be a previous citizen from Hidden Ocean and had Ocean bloodlimits! Sakura joked that since Naruto spent more time in the water then herself, maybe he was more inclined to Ocean bloodlines!

Everyone had a good laugh.

That was until Inari entered and threw a distasteful look their way.

"Why're you all laughing?-! Gatou's going to kill all of you!" He cried out, instantly ruining the mood.

Angered by the outburst, Naruto stood up, immediately cutting off Tsunami's scolding.

"Yeah? Just you watch! Gatou's gonna wish he'd never come here!" Naruto challenged back.

"Feh! Gatou will show you! He'll kill everyone! No one can stand up to him!" Inari sniveled and ran out of the room.

Naruto raised a fist.

"I'll show that brat something alright!" The blond boy intended on storming after the runt to give him a piece of his mind when someone had grabbed his hand, holding him back from going any further.

"Naruto..."

Sakura's pleading voice reached him.

"He'll see when it's all over." She said sternly.

Naruto pulled his hand away sharply, still intent on giving that brat what for.

"Please don't, Naruto." This time it was Tsunami pleading.

"And why shouldn't I?-!" He lashed out, turning to the older woman but calmed at seeing her downcast-look.

Tsunami hadn't even been facing him, but instead, positioned herself in front of a torn photograph hanging on the wall. A shaky hand had traced the torn area, her eyes were not-quite staring at the damaged object, but instead staring at something that was once there.

"There was a man in this picture once, just as there was once a man in our lives." She began. "He was Kaiza, a wanderer from place to place and had saved Inari from some bullies once."

Her hand reached into her pocket.

"It was only a visit to the Wave, but weeks became months and he came to call the Wave his home and was loved by all. Especially by my son. The time they'd spent together, nearly had Kaiza become Inari's father in all but blood."

Out of the pocket came a torn and crumpled piece of paper.

"He was so dedicated to our country, he'd even went as far as swimming through a flood to save some of the inhabited areas. He was held as a hero of our simple community and brought hope to a failing country."

The paper was smoothed and it filled the torn area of the photo perfectly. Another man filled the missing part of the photograph.

"You'd always hear him say 'as long as you have these two arms'," she gestured to her own arms, "'you can protect your home'."

She barked a pained laugh.

"I was to be wed again, with him one day." She sighed wistfully. But then her eyes hardened.

"But it wasn't meant to be... Because... Because Gatou came..." She faltered at this point.

Further attempts to continue had failed -her words were torn away before she could even form them. Unable to stop the tears, she excused herself and exited the room, taking the rumpled piece of photograph with her.

Tazuna sighed and went to wipe his eyes, continuing where his daughter had left off. The memory had brought back terrible memories.

"When Gatou muscled in on the Wave Country. Our hero, Kaiza, had stood up to him. And Kaiza protected our country as hard as he could, with his two arms."

Then the aging architect tensed and grimaced fiercely.

"That bastard, Gatou, had Kaiza's arms cut off in front of everyone."

His audience reacted to that. Sakura had flinched, Naruto swore under his breath and Sasuke gave narrow eyed looks. It disgusted Kakashi, but the jounin did not outwardly express it.

"Then he had Kaiza hung up at the town-square and was publicly executed, to be an example to everyone."

Tazuna took a swig of sake to rid himself of the taste in his mouth.

"Ever since then, the people of Wave had let Gatou do as he wished, fearful for what Gatou would do to them. But there was still some of us who resisted."

Tazuna derisively took another sip.

"Without our bridge, the Wave will lose all hope." He finished gravely.

Naruto immediately headed towards the door to exit the house.

"Where are you going, Naruto?" Sakura asked loudly.

"I've got to go out and train to prove something..." He turned and gave a toothy grin to his audience.

"I've got to prove that there's always hope." He finished proudly.

"And you call me the show-off..." Sasuke snorted under his breath.

---

The second day had Naruto and Sasuke train by themselves. Both boys pushed themselves at the other's expense, and when one upped the other, the other would try even harder until they were on top and the game would loop again. This ranged from tree-climbing to water-walking to a combination of the two or the introduction of their ninja techniques and sparring.

Sakura volunteered to take place watching the bridge for Kakashi, so he could recover faster and she'd quickly realised the task to be extremely long and tedious. She'd found herself distracted several times throughout the course, but was quick to correct her objective and focused on her task.

However, something unnerved her. At first she thought she was getting _weird_ looks from the builders, but as time went on, one of the builders approached Tazuna. It was at this time that Sakura got her chance to see what these people saw in her.

"Boss, I want to go home early. I've got a family to think about and..." The man trailed off.

"Are you asking to quit?" Tazuna asked evenly.

The man had briefly glanced over Tazuna's shoulder to Sakura, meeting her eyes.

"I can't do this anymore, boss."

Tazuna looked down at his clipboard and there was a silence so thick, that you could cut it with a knife.

"Goodbye, Giichi." He finally said.

And the exchange was over. Giichi left and that was that.

But in that simple glance, Sakura saw an emotion that spoke in volumes.

_Fear._

The same look the rest of builders gave her.

And even when she and Tazuna entered the town to purchase food stuff, it became more pronounced as each new face looked her over once and recoiled.

After more or less receiving the same treatment from everyone, she turned to Tazuna for the answer.

"It's nothing." He brushed the subject off.

But he'd failed to meet her eyes.

---

When she'd returned, Sakura found Kakashi up and about again, taking experimental steps here and there as well as some light stretching.

Once Tazuna and the rest of the household weren't in the vicinity, Sakura poised her question to her teacher.

"Kakashi-sensei."

"Yes, Sakura?"

"About yesterday... Were you getting odd looks too?"

Kakashi's lazy eye trained on Sakura's anxious green orbs. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

"The country isn't very open to ninjas."

He used the tone to drop the subject.  
He didn't know much more than her after all.

---

It wasn't long before the week had passed that was completely in tandem with the second day. The boys trained, the girl guarded and the teacher rehabilitated.

However, the fractions of what each person had been assigned to, all had took to their work with more zeal than the day before. Everyone knew the stakes and with each passing day the tension grew to higher levels.

Kakashi had taken to slower but more deliberate forms of practise; mostly stretching all his muscles carefully and accordingly as to be in top form whenever the need would require of it. He silently admitted to himself the time he'd spent training his team had dulled his senses and responses. And though he would not regret taking a team, he also couldn't let his team down like he did in the previous confrontation with the missing ninja...  
...or rather, ever let his new team succumb to the horrors of his old.

Sakura guarded Tazuna during the day and when she wasn't, she'd designate to train her stamina and her skills in hand-to-hand combat. She knew she was lacking when it comes to full contact defensive procedures, but she was hoping she could use chakra to buffer her initial weakness and gradually work it out. This required absolute focus to achieve.

Sasuke had pushed himself to greater heights. Eventually, he would find himself doing Fireballs whilst perched on top of the water as the competition between himself and his blond teammate staggered to new levels as each attempted to out-do the other.

Naruto had strained his control. When he was alone, he'd switch between techniques and chakra control, as to put his reflexes into peak condition. He honed his tree-climbing and water-walking so that in battle situations, he could call on the skill without a thought.

Everyone agreed on one thing: there was no margin for error.

And so, it wasn't long before the week had passed as each successive day proved to be on the same line of route for the last, only more difficult. The boys trained, the girl guarded and the teacher rehabilitated.

However, on the seventh day, there was something different.

"Zabuza-sama. I'm going out."

---

With Haku's form getting further away, Naruto went over the conversation they'd just had. The visitor had given him much to think about in so limited amount of time, but interestingly enough, Naruto found something worth while from their talk.

Haku's inquiry about strength had Naruto seriously review his old foundations. He'd nearly felt like he'd found an answer, but Haku had chosen to interrupt with his own opinion on the subject, which had confused the younger boy to no end.  
At this point, Naruto began to fully suspect that the person he was speaking to was a reconnaissance spy due to the other's cryptic dialogue. Somehow, said suspect possibly read Naruto's judgment and promptly ended their conversation, leaving the younger unable to think about the answer he nearly had.

With Haku getting further away and Sasuke now in speaking distance, suddenly Haku's invitation to 'meet up again somewhere' had seemed very enticing. Morning was nearly in full swing and if he stalled for too long, he wouldn't get another chance.

A quick glance from one dark haired boy to the other, Naruto made his choice.

"What's up, Sasuke?"

---

Uchiha Sasuke was a person who rather hated surprises. It is no coincidence that his main source of anguish and hatred had been involved in the biggest surprise of all.

So when Naruto surprised his team, this unfortunately included Sasuke as well.

Oh, how he hated surprises.

One moment, Naruto had been messing around and then the next, Sasuke had been forced to catch the dead last by the ankle because the idiot lost his footing.

"You know, you didn't have to bother, Sasuke." Hanging upside down, Naruto pulled his arms behind his head and grinned.

"Hn?" The dark-haired lad craned his neck to peer at his teammate. Just what was the idiot going on about now?

"I went to see the town a while back!"

And with that, Naruto exploded in a puff of smoke.

To Sasuke, this opened up to the realisation that Naruto had been a clone long before they'd spoken at the clearing.

The dark-haired boy experimentally closed his hand again, feeling how the other boy suddenly slipped out of his grasp...  
...Or rather never was there to begin with.

Sasuke hated surprises with a passion.

---

"So why in the world would you dress like a girl then?"

"What?" Haku whirled around to face the voice, completely shocked. He adopted a casual stance; lightly bent at the limbs to ready into any sort of defending role should he need it, but not look like a stance to the untrained eye.

He was even more taken aback when he noticed it was the same boy from an hour or so prior, now sitting on a tree branch.

"What I mean is..." Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment. "You're wearing a collar that covers the bump on all guy's throats."

"Ah..." Haku really didn't want to admit it, but he had taken advantage of his feminine attributes to be able to spy on his adversaries for his master. He only admitted his gender when he thought the conversation was over...  
...but now he was forcibly backed into a corner he created.

"Oh... That was rude of me." Naruto awkwardly laughed whilst jumping down to land next to the feminine boy. "You must have a personal reason to do it. I'm really sorry." He lowered his head.

"O-oh... Yes." Haku didn't want to push his luck.

Naruto held out his hand for a handshake and introduced himself. Haku followed the blonde's lead a little nervously.

"You lived here long?" Naruto asked.

"Not too long." Haku admitted. "I'm always traveling."

"But your traveling with someone, right? And they got sick?" Naruto made some connections he'd remembered from their prior conversation.

"...Yes." Though he forced himself not to show it, Haku was starting to become agitated. He knew his cover had to have been blown.

"Can he wait a bit?" The blond boy asked.

"...Why?" Haku was terribly uncomfortable. His instincts were telling him to run, but that would definitely alert his captors. He couldn't panic now.

"Cause like you said, you're collecting more herbs so you don't run out. So he's got herbs with him! He'll be fine for a bit without you, right?" Naruto pestered.

"...I don't know." The missing ninja accomplice started on a plan to escape and he'd hurriedly glanced to his surroundings to try to spot the boy's team so he could avoid them.

"That's okay! You can show me the town then!"

"...No, I- huh?" Then things just got downright confusing for Haku.

"I've only just got here, but I always eat at Tazuna's place, you know? I still want to travel around and go everywhere I can! So can you show me a place to eat at least?" Naruto had just about exploded, fully getting into old habits. For some reason, he'd looked forward to the thought of speaking with the other boy and he couldn't halt the growing excitement.

Seeing Haku unsure, Naruto force his hand into pleading.

"I mean, you did say you wanted to meet up later!"

Haku examined the ninja in front of him and found the boy to be very odd. Just from all of their meetings, Haku could formally conclude that though the boy claimed to be a ninja, he was possibly the loudest and the most enthusiastic person he'd ever had the chance of meeting.  
Those feelings happened to be contagious.

"Okay..." Haku accepted hesitatingly.

Whether he was caught or not, Haku reasoned that they had no idea of what he was capable of. He could escape at any opportunity so he really didn't mind at this point.

So the duo had walked into town and Haku explained each place that he had learned of whilst he had been in the area. Though the atmosphere was depressing, what with the current economic state, Naruto was undeterred about keeping a smile.

"Hey, hey! Let's stop there!"

Haku felt himself dragged over to an open shop. Once he stood on his own legs again, he'd quickly gone over his surroundings, recognising himself to be in a blacksmith's weapon shop, what with the weapons on the shelves and the forge. Then he'd taken a second look and noted the unlit forge, shelves lined with dust and what few weapons there were, were worn and fading. It was understandable that all of them were the over-sized sort -no civilian would buy such overtly large weapons or least of all; even afford any of these!

"Wow! A giant throwing star! Is that a war hammer? Oh, look at that! It's a huge axe!" Naruto 'ooh'ed and 'aah'ed, bouncing from display to display, though stopping to try to pick up the last one.

"You shouldn't over do yourself..." Haku warned. He was kind of worried at how the younger boy's attention span kept wandering and was now reaching for an axe that was a sizeable portion bigger than himself.

Naruto had managed to bring the axe above his waist and was carefully testing its weight with little to no difficulty. Then something else caught his eye and he let go.

Haku jumped over and grabbed the weapon before it would create a dint (or rather a messy crater) in the establishment.

"Oof!" He exhaled sharply trying to stop the axe from crashing.

Then he tested his strength by hefting it with both hands, and was thoroughly surprised at just how heavy it was. Naruto'd had lifted it showing little strain and yet he found himself struggling. Was the boy really lifting it with more ease than himself...?

"Oh, now this I gotta get!"

Haku turned his attention over to Naruto and gaped.

The boy was now marveling at a worn lance that was bigger in every respect than himself! Haku could see that it was made on a sort of reverse-principles of a lance, wherein the serrated blades were longer than the handle. Having Naruto stand side-to-side by the propped up weapon, Haku could see that one edge had stood from the floor, going all the way up to Naruto's shoulders before the handle began -going for another 2 or 3 feet, before reaching the other blade and it's apex. Damn, you could cut it at the handle and it would resemble two rough overtly large swords than a broken lance! And from this angle, if he wasn't mistaken, Haku could swear the blades was wider than Naruto's shoulder length!  
...then why the hell was the boy reaching to pick it up!-?

A loud laugh echoed off the walls and a terribly unshaven but well-built, middle-aged man stepped out -assumably the smithy of the establishment. The man had praised Naruto's interest and introductions were given before small talk resumed. When Naruto introduced himself as a ninja, the man's heavily bristled face had laughed and then he'd admitted to trying out to be a ninja but had failed the genin exam -though that hadn't stopped him from a having a passionate stance on weapons and going into his trade!

"Times were good for a while, you know? People need a smithy to make or repair their old pots and stuff." He owner reminisced.

Haku and Naruto nodded understandingly.

"Times change though." The moustache twitched.

Then he gave his full professional attention on the boys and gave them a hearty smile.

"So... You guys wanna buy something and help an old academy student out?" He grinned at his audience, though it was clear he wasn't too excited. The company was nice, but he had no allusions about expecting a bunch of genin (let alone children) to be able to afford his wares.

Haku winced. He couldn't afford anything here, nor did he even have a desire for weapons. He had his needles. That was enough for him.

Naruto squinted at the handful of weapons. To him, this was his chance to stock up on things. If he went about shopping back at the Hidden Leaf, things would be suspicious and really expensive, or he'd have to transform and then things would still be mutually expensive, but if he was caught in disguise, the shit would hit the fan.

Here in the Wave though...  
Things were a little expensive, but not over-priced...  
And the giant weapons weren't a Hidden Leaf thing...

And Naruto came to the best conclusion he had;  
Indulge, indulge, indulge.

"How much for that and that?" Naruto pointed to several pieces.

The burly man tallies the total up. It was a hefty sum. The blacksmith still thought how highly improbable it is for a little shortie like him to afford such stuff.

"Hmm... Can you touch them up and ready them in a few days?"

"I think I can, that's if you can pay upfront though." The man's hopes began to rise a little more, hoping it wasn't a cruel joke. You just can't joke about money in the Wave.

Naruto nodded excitedly. He'd been in the middle of opening his pouch to retrieve the frog-purse when he'd stopped. He didn't have a way to take this stuff home.

"Have you got any storage scrolls for these?"

"I do, but they'll cost extra..." The older man's rising hopes stalled.

Naruto pouted. Damn, storage scrolls were pretty expensive.  
Then something seemed to occur to the shopkeeper and he snapped his fingers at the realisation.

"Hey, wait a second! Are you the guys that're helping Tazuna out?" His voice filled with anticipation.

"Yeah! That's right!" Naruto proclaimed, jabbing at his chest. "Me and my team's gonna stop any of Gatou's goons from getting too close! Uzumaki Naruto's on the case!"

The smithy grinned hugely, his hopes now soaring. All of Wave's future rested on these guys!

"Well, I'll tell you what, Uzumaki Naruto! When that bridge is done, we'll be getting good business again, so I can't give you these scrolls but..." And he reached behind the counter. "I can give you this scroll. It's a little beat up, but this was the scroll I used when I was in the academy! I'll give this to you free, as long as that bridge is fixed!"

"No problem!" Naruto laughed. "Hey thanks, old man!"

"I'm not that old, kid." The smithy corrected, a little annoyed. "I'll be getting to sharpening them, so you can pick these up in a day or two."

"Hey hey, have you got any of those colouring crystals? You know, to give colors to the weapons?"

"I think I got a few left, yeah..." The smithy considered it, sparing a glance at the backdoor and scratching his chin.

"Can you bring out their colours then?"

The man decided on doing so. The thought of getting the forge all fired up again after far too long had him elated.

"Well as long as I'm doing that, any particular design on it?" He asked cheerfully.

Naruto grinned.

---

It was nearing the end of morning and Sakura sat perched on Kakashi's legs, whilst Tazuna sat cross-legged on the jounin's back. All three rose and lowered in a slow, but concentrated rhythm as Kakashi worked on doing one-finger push-ups with one hand, making sure to exercise and test all of his muscles and chakra circulation.

On the other hand, he'd been giving his mind a thorough work out as he was using his other hand to hold up a certain perverted novel to his face.

His musings had been interrupted as Tazuna spoke.

"I wanted to ask you earlier but..." Tazuna started off. "Why are you still here when I lied to you about this mission?"

"To abandon your duty is not courageous." Kakashi said effortlessly as he did another push up, almost as if rehearsed.

"Below the courageous, there is nothing."

"Those were the previous Hokage's words."

"That is the way of th-"

He paused in mid-sentence as he'd felt a shift in weight on his legs. Looking over his shoulder, Kakashi found Sakura leaning over and craning her neck as if she was examining something that was being blocked from her point of view.

"Are you..." Kakashi squinted an accusing and slightly worried eye at his pink-haired student.

"Are you trying to see over my shoulder to read my book?"

Sakura gave a stammered denial and a fierce blush before reseating her position to hide her face behind Tazuna.

The older architect would then curiously look over Kakashi's shoulder before shrinking back and blushing terribly too.

---

After their side-trip to the smithy, both jumpsuit-clad and kimono-clad boys had also stopped by a few other places, like that of a plant nursery (for Haku's own curiousity about looking into certain herbs), a second-hand book store (where Naruto purchased a particularly small but worn book that Haku considered to look akin to Fairy Tales) and now; a small food stand. They'd already seated and ordered their expensively cheap food for breakfast (technically brunch) and was just waiting for the person behind the counter to serve them.

"You keep smiling often. Is there something you should be happy about?" Haku asked. "It seems so out of place with everyone looking not so well."

Naruto's personal thoughts to that, would be somewhere along the lines that Haku might provide the sort of companionship he'd needed to be able to sort out what his goals were. It was perfect too... Haku was merely a stranger. And likely the enemy. Any situation of which, he'll never see the other boy again afterwards.

"What's happening right now isn't as important as what lies ahead!" Naruto's half-lie gleamed. "You just gotta keep your head high and nothing will bother you!"

Haku even had to smile at that kind of optimism.

"Besides," Naruto continued in a low, conspiratory whisper but grinning all the way through it. "people who don't like you would think you're up to something, even when you're not!"

Haku swallowed nervously and offered a half-hearted chuckle, but his eyes unconsciously drifted to the side.

"How about you?" Naruto quickly switched the subject. "You've been collecting herbs and stuff. Are you going to be some sort of doctor?"

Haku smiled curtly, without betraying his alarm and decided on winging it.

"Sort of. I've only studied a bit of medicine so that I can help my friend. It's difficult but it's rewarding."

"Oh. You must really respect this person then."

"Yes, he is my precious person. He acknowledges me." Haku sighed.

This had Naruto glaze up for a second. Something about that sentence had him immediately confused...

"Acknowledges you?"

"Yes." Haku paused. His enemy was sitting across from him and they were sharing meals. He was hesitant at admitting his past but... With the boy in front of him sounding so sincere, he felt like he could admit to anything.

"My father..." Haku began, the memory had him turn solemn. "My father had killed my mother. And when I found out, I had killed him. Because of relevant... circumstances, I was hated by everyone and I ran from place to place, begging on the streets."

Then Haku's eyes shifted and became warm.

"Then I met my friend and he accepted me. Because of him, I owe a debt to him that I can never truly repay. So my dream is to help him accomplish his goals." He made sure not to give away too obvious details and the truth wasn't too far off, so it had sounded especially real.

"It must sound silly, doesn't it?" Haku tried to laugh it off so that the moment won't seem so depressing.

"Not at all."

Haku looked up, taken aback.

At the story, Naruto had also become very serious. Inwardly, Haku's story had affected him in a way he'd never had, as it nearly mirrored his. To have never been given a chance to redeem, even if it was their fault or not.

Only, Naruto had been redeemed by his own doing. He didn't need anyone.

"It's not silly at all." Naruto repeated. "Back home, everyone hates me because of something that had happened a long time ago that involved my heritage. For what had happened, I'd grown up without blood ties or friends and even the Hokage had to step in and make a rule about it."

This had caused Haku's eyes to widen. For the strongest ninja in the village to make a rule in favour of a family... Whatever it was, must have had huge implications.

In a moment of clarity, Naruto recalled the scorn adorned in all the villager's faces and it suddenly didn't matter to him that he was a vessel or not. He'd realised something anew...

Whatever the hell he was, he still suffered for it.

"That is the reason I want to become strong. So that I can stand on my own two feet without anyone's help... And be the strongest in all of Leaf!" Naruto intensely stated.

Though outwardly, it was a sort of fiery promise made on the moment, but within, it was the return of faith and a renewal of an old promise, swearing retribution several years back.

Haku quickly came to an assumption from what he knew so far.

"The strongest ninja in all of Leaf? So you're goal is Hokage, huh?" He smirked. "A leader and a protector of the Leaf, right?"

Naruto slowly nodded, his grin becoming more and more pronounced at the thought. He'd vowed he'd be Hokage at some point or another as a cover for his want for strength -just like now... But the way Haku said it, it made him actually want the title.

He would drag that village into hell with him.

Realising he still had company, Naruto halted his plans and shook himself out of his thoughts. Then he grabbed his tea, holding it high and urged Haku to do the same.

"You and I, we're the same! People hate and fear us. But here's to our dreams and ambitions so that later we may have something to look forward to instead of looking back to our terrible pasts!"

Haku laughed softly and brought his cup to clip Naruto's.

"Kampai!" "Cheers!"

And the meal had returned to ample conversation about interesting journeys and light-hearted humorous recanted tales.

---

"Well, I need to be off now. My friend would be worried about me" Haku said, dusting off his clothes and getting ready to head back.

"Aaaw! Just one more thing I still want to do! It won't take long" Naruto latched onto Haku's arm and playfully tugged on it.

"Only if it's quick! My friend is recuperating but he's still rather impatient!" Haku laughed. He really had to get back, but he couldn't deny that he had a fun time. He would regret the day he will face this boy who has such a zest for life.

Naruto dragged Haku to a shop they'd passed before eating. The older boy was made to stand whilst Naruto had handed the man some money. Naruto took his place next to Haku and the man started fiddling with a device on a stand.

A camera.

Haku quickly came to the conclusion that Naruto had wanted a goodbye souvenir of his trip.

"It feels kind of sad." Naruto mumbled. He draped a hand around the older boy's shoulder in a show of camaraderie whilst still staring forward.

Haku raised an eyebrow and glanced over.

"What does?" Haku returned the gesture by draping his arm on Naruto's shoulder.

"Under different circumstances..." Naruto began.

The photographer signaled them that he was ready and only awaited them to smile. They both began to smile and the photographer started his countdown.

"Under different circumstances, we could have been the best of friends." Naruto whispered.

The photographer captured a moment of hesitant smiles. Naruto motioned holding two fingers up and the photographer went to set up a second shot.

Haku took that time to glance at the boy he stood next to. He recognised the implication that he had been found out. But the boy had seemed completely sincere and had never made any sort of signal or threatening gesture for the whole time they were in each other's company. And they were either not being followed, or his friend's were just that good.

So he didn't attempt to leave.

The photographer then called out the count down for the second shot.

"It does feel kind of sad then." Haku whispered back.

This time, the photo had captured a moment of honest smiles and only a hint of clouded eyes of the tranquility before the storm.

It was a short time later that the photographer handed Naruto the prints.

"Here, you take one and I'll take one." Naruto held a picture for Haku to take.

"Oh? Are you sure?" Haku hesitantly reached out to receive his. He'd wanted it but had politely asked all the same.

"Yep! We'll have something to remember our time by." Naruto insisted.

Haku accepted and gave it a once over. Naruto had purposely given him the picture with bright smiles and it brought a smile to Haku's lips at the generousity.

"Thank you Naruto-kun. But even without the picture, you are an unforgettable person nonetheless." Haku smiled, tracing the edge of the photo with his free hand.

"My friend will be worried about me, as is your friends about you." He continued, slipping the photo into the folds of his kimono. "I suppose they would want to see what you were up to."

"But it doesn't really concern them." Naruto shrugged. "I might show it to them if they ask about it."

Simultaneously they bowed, with Haku bowing more deeply and respectedly than Naruto's more general head and upper body tip that he'd reserved for everyone.

"It has been a memorable time, Naruto-kun."

"Likewise Haku. Catch you later."

"Yes, see you soon."

And so they both parted ways, their goodbyes hung ominously. For it wasn't really a parting, but a promise of a bloody reunion that they both knew would come to pass.

---

"Haku." A deep voice rang out.

"Zabuza-sama." Haku returned the salutation.

"You've been gone long." It wasn't a statement.

"Yes." Haku said. "It was a long observation."

He held the photo out to Zabuza who took it and raised an eyebrow at what it contained.

"What is your thoughts on them?" He asked.

"Their teacher will be ready for you." Haku merely nodded.

"I didn't ask just about the teacher." The elder of the two handed the photo back.

"They won't be a problem..." The boy reclaimed the picture but kept it in hand instead of pocketing it.

"You're hesitating." Zabuza didn't miss what was gone unsaid.

"That boy..." Haku started but couldn't grasp how to continue. Instead, he busied himself with retrieving one item that was kept between them.

"Is he strong?" Zabuza had made a mental link at seeing the item that Haku had pulled out.

"Look out for him." Haku merely murmured, his thoughts more pre-occupied with flicking through the pages of the book he held.

"That strong?" The older missing ninja's eyes widened a little.

"His strength doesn't have anything to do with the way he fights." Haku said, still going through the pages.

Zabuza had let the words stagnate. There were so many ways to interpret the sentence.

"He made quite an impression on you." The Demon of the Mist's eyes narrowed.

"When you speak with him, you'll feel it too." Haku finally found a page he was looking for.

With the conversation over, Zabuza watched silently. His thoughts contemplating on what Haku could mean, when the young man had slipped the photo into an empty page of the ninja bingo book.

---

"Hey guys! I'm back!"

"Naruto! Where have you been?-!" Sakura was quick to shout.

It was lunch-time and Tazuna, Sakura and Kakashi had briefly returned to the house so Tazuna could bring items he'd forgotten to take to the site. Sasuke had also appeared after popping in after training.

"I went out for breakfast!" He said.

"What's that in your hand?" The pink-haired genin tilted her head at the piece of paper in his hand.

"This?" He hesitated at first, but held it for Sakura to take a close look. "It's a souvenir!"

"You made a friend here already, huh?" Sakura's brows knitted at what she was seeing. For some reason, she blushed at how this pretty person seemed to be so familiar with Naruto in the picture.

Sasuke and Kakashi looked over her shoulder.

"She was that girl who approached you this morning." Sasuke said as-a-matter-of-factly. He still disliked the thought of what happened earlier, and now liked it even less... His teammate skipped out on training to go out on the town! And possibly on a date no less! They had a fight coming and the idiot was goofing off!

"She's kind of cute." Kakashi admitted. He had made other observations from the photo connecting with Sasuke's comment but didn't voice them as not to bring panic to his students. His comment still had his students' give him weird looks though. Kakashi went to putting his regular reading material away, but the damage was done.

"She'll definitely be a looker when she grows up." Tazuna had glanced over and then followed it with a swig of beer.

"He." Naruto corrected.

"...what?" It didn't really matter who said that at this point.

"I said, 'he'. That's," Naruto pointed to Haku in the picture. "a guy."

Tazuna was choking on his beer and Sasuke and Sakura were quick to recoil. Even Kakashi's visible eye widened a little.

"What?-!" The cry was unanimous.

"I'm drunk!" Tazuna cried out. "My excuse is that everything looks decent to me!" He wailed embarrassingly, though everyone ignored him for the most part.

Both Kakashi and Sasuke sat down at their places to await the meal, ready to forget about the 'cute girl' that had been in the photo. Sakura was blushing heavily but held the photo closer to scrutinize it.

"He sure looks feminine enough." She said. Then a wry smile appeared on her lips as she turned to face Naruto.

"Did you know he was a guy before or after the photo?"

The males with the exception of Naruto had chuckled (smirked in Sasuke's case) at her suggestion.

"I knew when he woke me up in the forest collecting herbs!" Naruto huffed, but he gave her a veiled look.

Something in Naruto's expression had Sakura's attention. It was a lilt that was usually reserved for when he trained her. Turning his sentence over in her head, she looked back at the photo instead of giving it back. 'Picking herbs' had crossed her mind. Then they crossed eyes for the barest of seconds. Her tutor had given her a challenge to look underneath the underneath.

"It's kind of odd though..." She muttered, comprehending what the photo didn't say. "He's obviously dressed to look like a girl. He's even wearing a collar to hide the bump of the larynx."

She received a round of blank stares.

"The Adam's apple. You know, all guys get the bumps on the front of their necks."

Kakashi mentally applauded her for her attention to detail whilst Sasuke and Tazuna were starting to come to the same conclusion that Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto had already come to.

"I've been on the town myself. The kimono looks too clean and too preserved." She added, handing the photo over to Naruto who took it and smiled obligingly.

"Well, he's a really nice guy." Naruto said with no small amount of agenda. "And he travels alot."

There was a silence as the meal begun. The comment on traveling was the final nail in the coffin.

"A spy?" Tazuna then was first to voice what they suspected between bites of rice.

"Pretty likely." Kakashi nodded, his food left untouched. "Did he happen to say anything that might be important, Naruto?" He asked, although he already knew that the Haku wouldn't have done so.

Naruto stopped inhaling his food for a second to 'hem' and 'haw', holding his chin under one hand.

"I don't remember!"

His teammates were quick to shake their heads before continuing to eat. It was rather expected though.

"Can you remember a little of what you were talking to him about?" Sakura pleaded.

Naruto did his best to recount what had happened from the beginning. Of course, since he was reacquainted with his 'idiot mode', he left out quite a lot of details but incidentally added things that were necessary whilst embellishing his role.

"Okay, can anyone tell me what you discerned from that?" Kakashi said, looking over to his students. He chose Sakura to go first.

"The herbs that grow around here are a relaxing sort. They're a mild sedatives brewed into tea that can mute pain, instill quicker recovery for shocked muscles and additionally contain a mild amount of anti-oxidants. So Zabuza is also injured but is healing well." Sakura was quick to reply.

Kakashi nodded, impressed. He only knew that the herbs were used for healing muscle structure. Then he motioned Sasuke.

"Zabuza is nearly back on his feet. We will be confronted soon and that boy will also join the fight." Sasuke said clearly and concisely.

Kakashi nodded again happy with answer. And now Naruto.

Naruto crossed his arms.

Kakashi shook his head. He knew that this would be a difficult fight for Naruto. He knew all too well what would be coming. Sighing, he motioned Sakura to go again.

"He accepted Naruto's invitation. This means he likely has some skills and maybe a bloodlimit. Especially a missing-nin like Zabuza would only choose someone that would be very useful to him."

"Good, good." With the exception of Naruto, he'd been very impressed with his team.

Through out their scrutiny, Naruto couldn't even pin down the welling feeling within him. How dare they scrutinise Haku's position in all of this! The boy who'd endured through so much, like he had! Only this boy had sadly became what Naruto made sure not to become; a simple weapon for someone else. The thought sickened him.

Naruto stood abruptly, pushing away the remaining of his food. His head was bowed and he faced away from his team, shaking. Everyone looked on, a little saddened at the prospect of Naruto facing someone he possibly called 'friend', but said nothing. What could they say?

"Haku... Because he had been acknowledged by a single person..." He started coarsely. "His precious person... He is ready to die to fulfill his precious person's dreams."

When he left, nobody tried to stop him.

_To be concluded in Chapter 05b._

Feedback, constructive criticism and flames welcomed.  
I'll take it the moon and let it play among the stars. -hums-

* * *

**READER NOTE:**  
_Fox Identity_ now has a separate entry for _Lost Segments_. This is basically a graveyard for things that do happen in the _Fox Identity_ continuum, however they;  
a) do not fit anywhere else, or  
b) cannot fit because of spoilers or it breaks the chapter's rythm.  
The first segment has been released and deals with events occuring in _Fox05b_.

* * *

**Concerning Emailing Me:  
**Apologees in advanced if you have emailed me and I had not replied. You see, it had come to my attention that my filter may have blocked your email. If you are not Missq or A.Dong and have not received a reply, I am afraid I have not received your mail. Once again, I apologise and will try to change that.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**  
Okay, quick skim over _Fox05a_. I think I screwed up several scenes... Mainly the Haku and Naruto interaction ones. They'll get a once-over when I upload _Fox05b_ (which will be released in under 2 weeks) when I've had sufficient time to think them over. 

About the water-walking... For the 'how', given the proper motivation (a competitive game, and the fact they're still children), I'd think they'd pick it up rather quickly. That and the first time Naruto tried it in canon, he'd pretty much got it down. He'd only have trouble when he was practising in the stream.  
Now for the 'why'. Team 7's going to need all the training they can get...

Oh, and I pushed Tsunami into a spotlight. I figured she'd need a bigger role other than just being a relation between Tazuna and Inari.

And I just realised I'd missed including Inner Sakura. I am a dolt. Feel free to pelt me with squeegee balls.

* * *

**FAQ Section**

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Once again, thank you all for your support! I've taken all of your advice into consideration, but I've already plotted most of the fic already. ;)

* * *

**Stats  
**'Classic WITH CHE **word counter'  
**Vers. 03.5 (9/11/05)  
Fic: 12,338  
Notes: 430 

_(Does not include stats)_

Have a Great and Happy day!


	7. Fox: 05b Shattered Ocean

**Warning list  
**_COPYRIGHT_  
In Soviet Russia, you own Naruto. Here and now, Naruto owns you.  
_YADA YADA  
_You know the rest. Otherwise refer to previous chapters.

**Foreword:**  
You read the first Lost Segment. Heh.  
And if you haven't, this maybe a more interesting read if you do.

* * *

**Fox Identity  
**by Arkhe

**Chapter Five _Beta_:** Shattered Ocean

**Descending Storm**

The following day had arrived and it brought with it, darkened clouds. In fact, this is probably its darkest all week. It is clear, that a storm is brewing on this day.

Team 7, minus a certain member, had prepared themselves with appropriate weaponry and attitudes for their guarding session. All were wary of the possibility of engaging in battle.

"What about...?" Sakura had left the question hanging, though everyone knew who she was referring to.

"I'm pretty sure he's fine." Kakashi nodded to himself. "Knowing him, he'll join us in a bit."

"Let's move out." Sasuke ordered.

And so, they headed to the inevitable.

---

Just as most of Team 7 left the Tazuna home, a pair of swordsmen arrived. A pair of sky-blue eyes watched them break in and enter.

"Cowards." The figure spat, before advancing.

---

Sasuke eyed Haku warily, an excited grin plastering his face. Kakashi's gaze swept the field and he barked his order.

"I'll take down Zabuza. You guys watch over Tazuna."

Sakura whipped out a kunai and held it defensively in front of their client and herself, as Kakashi and Sasuke broke away to fight their respective opponents.

---

Inari was shaking.

Those vile samurai thugs had just taken his mother away and he didn't even do a thing to defend the matriarch of his family. His current thoughts had been a mess, as he couldn't even begin to shape coherency at this point. Then he felt his cheeks become wet.

He was crying again.

A shadow was cast over him and he'd brought his arms to his face, fearing for his life. When he peered between the gaps of his arms, he found Naruto's neutral visage bearing down on him.

"You disgust me."

Inari looked sharply away, sniveling as he did so.

"You just left your mother to die."

The younger boy covered his ears and closed his eyes tightly, wishing that things were not so.

"Kaiza would be ashamed."

Involving his father's name had triggered a rising contempt in the back of Inari's throat and he instinctively lashed back.

"You don't know anything!" Inari shouted. "I'm too weak! I can't do anything!"

Naruto didn't respond right away. He'd, instead, turned away and began climbing out the nearest window. Once he was outside, he'd stopped and gave a passing but stern look to the younger boy.

"You still have two arms." And with those parting words, Naruto disappeared.

Tazuna's grandson froze, as vivid memories of his father-to-be cascaded.

_'No matter how tough, no matter how sad, you must try and try... And even if you lose your life, protect it with these two arms. If you do that, even if you do die, the proof of a man's life will remain... Forever.'_ Kaiza had once told him.

Inari's head hung low, eyes staring at the wooden floor.  
The speech continued to echo.

_'Even if you lose your life, protect it with these two arms...'_

He brought his hands to his face, but stopped.  
They felt damp.  
His hands were wet with tears.

_'Even if you lose your life...'_

His hands.

_'Protect it with these two arms...'_

He gave them an experimental flex...

_'...proof of a man's life will remain...'_

...then tightened them into resolved fists.

_'Forever.'_

---

"MOTHER!"

The trio turned his way, all a little surprised.

"Inari?-! Get away from here!" Tsunami cried out.

"Stupid kid!" The scarred one sneered.

Inari hadn't heard the thug, as he was already beyond caring about what was going to happen next. His thinking was already set.

"I was wrong, Mom! As long as I have my two arms, I'll protect everything I love! No matter what!"

Inari ran blindly forward and both swordsmen tensed, readying their blades.

"NO! INARI!" Tsunami screamed, covering her eyes unable to watch.

But the sound of tearing flesh never occurred.

Inari and Tsunami opened their eyes and found Uzumaki Naruto standing over them and a few more Narutos (?-!) tying up the two unconscious hired goons.

The one standing over them finally noticed their attention on him.

"You realise you still got two arms, eh?" He laughed.

Both Tsunami and Inari gave him thankful tearful smiles for his part. Seeing his work done here, Naruto opened his thigh holster.

"If they tried to get you, then that means the bridge is under attack." He scanned his equipment and was satisfied.

"I'm gonna have to go and kick their ass." The blond boy declared and set to leave.

"I'm coming with you!" Inari took a step forward, recklessly determined.

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You got the courage part down, I'll give you that." Naruto nodded at Inari.

"But you need to use this," and he gave Inari a poke in the head, "if you want to get much further ahead."

"Naruto's right." Tsunami put a hand down on her child's shoulder. "You'll just get in the way on your own."

Naruto gave the environment another scan before giving the woman and her son a respectful nod. Then he was an orange blur, as he set off towards the main fight.

Once the blond genin was out of sight, Inari turned to his mother.

"Well, if I can't help on my own..." He murmured and dashed off in another direction with his mother in tow.

---

Team 7 currently wasn't faring too well. Somehow, they were now all divided into three groups; Sasuke and Haku's fight, Kakashi facing off against Zabuza and finally Sakura being the final defense for Tazuna.

It wasn't long before Zabuza settled a thick mist on the surrounding area and Kakashi was forced to stay facing off against his opponent, unable to keep a watchful eye on his charges.

An over-sized sword swung from his blind-angle and the cycloptic-jounin was forced to parry it with a kunai. Weapons clashing, both ninjas fought for dominance.

A flash!

Kakashi looked over and saw another Zabuza that had passed him and was on a direct course for Tazuna and Sakura!

Withdrawing another kunai, he motioned to throw it at the vulnerable enemy's back but the action had been stopped as his current enemy's free hand caught the wrist. The silver-haired jounin anticipated this and pivoted to swipe Zabuza with the kunai parrying the sword, hoping the swipe would be strong enough to disfigure the assumable water clone he was fighting, knowing full well that he'd take a lesser hit from Zabuza's unguarded blade.

The swipe drew blood.

Kakashi's eyes widened and immediately attempted to break away but was unable to do so.

"Sakura! Watch out!"

---

"Sakura! Watch out!"

The female genin of Team 7just caught the shout and went into full alert, her mind going into over-drive. Knowing that Zabuza was heading her way, she'd quickly tore through what she knew of the enemy and the present situation. Statistics told her that her opponent would go for the maximum area of effect with his giant cleaver. Instincts would chance on this as she lashed her leg backwards, catching Tazuna's ankle and sending a sharp pain into the aging man, causing him to lose his balance. Though he would have righted himself, Sakura sprung backwards and kicked off him.

Since Sakura used Tazuna as a springboard, sending her upwards and him downwards, the horizontal slash from the Zabuza water-clone's enormous sword missed both the genin and the client.

Luckily, since the clone had come in close to take a swipe, Sakura had jumped over her enemy and landed on the flat end of his blade on the completion of his rotational swing. In a split-second, Sakura used her tree-walking exercise to anchor herself to the sword, turn on her heel and attack the source of the blade.

Before it could even react, the clone was caught in a fierce kick under the chin, causing a momentary break in the chakra construct. With its loss of cohesion, water exploded in every direction.

Without a foothold, Sakura fell in an undignified heap, but salvaged it into a tuck and roll. Within moments, she found herself by Tazuna's side once again, the older man a little bruised but none worse for wear.

Then her thoughts caught up to her. She took down Zabuza's water-clone all by herself! Inner-Sakura gave her two thumbs-up! **HELL YES!**

"No worries, Kakashi-sensei! I got this!" She said aloud instead.(1)

---

"No worries, Kakashi-sensei! I got this!"

Kakashi suppressed the need to sigh in relief. He sent a water-clone to take out Zabuza's clone but halted when he saw Sakura react amazingly. It drew some tutorly pride seeing his student defend the way she did.

"Your genins are impressive. I've under-estimated them." Zabuza sneered.

"Well. Sakura is the number one smartest in the academy, Sasuke is the number one rookie and Naruto is the number one loudest ninja to have ever graduated." Kakashi replied boastfully.

"I'll be sure not to under-estimate them again then." The missing ninja avoided an attack from the Kakashi's water-clone before countering it with a devastating diagonal slice. The attacked caused Kakashi's clone to explode in a flurry of water, splashing the missing ninja with its contents.

"Neither I will you." The cycloptic jounin replied, whilst unveiling his covered eye.

---

Then things really started to heat up when Naruto exploded onto the scene (with the aid of a smoke bomb) and everyone anticipated the turning of the tide. However, despite his use of the replications pulling various wounded workers away from the bridge, his presence had become more liability than support when he'd used the distraction to position himself in Haku's technique.

With Sakura unable to leave her guard and Kakashi's dual not letting up, both boys were now finding themselves riddled with needles.

Naruto gritted his teeth, trying to locate the opponent.

"Haku! Stop this!"

There was a brief pause in battle as things became eerily quiet and each image on a mirror turned to solely regard the blond boy. A passing breeze weaved its way between the mirrors, picking up a chill from the cold bloodlimit and Haku's hollow response echoed off the frozen walls.

"If I have to," The masked boy started, his voice rising in intensity, "I will break my glass heart, and become a true ninja..."

"Haku..." Naruto gave a reflection of his enemy a look of pity.

"I WILL EVEN FOLLOW ZABUZA-SAMA TO HELL!"

And the one-sided battle resumed.

Frustrated and tiring, Sasuke kept up with most of the needles, only letting them graze him by a margin.

Naruto, however, wasn't so lucky. He'd taken just about every hit aimed at him.

"Dammit! He's been keeping it up for a while! Doesn't he get tired!-?" The blond boy growled, trying to deflect the attacks and attempting to return his own attacks -all of which were rendered useless.

"I can't believe you were so stupid enough to get yourself in this mess!" Sasuke growled, unable to hold back telling off his partner.

"Geeze, I already said I'm sorry! I did this for you, you know!" Naruto screamed back, now facing Sasuke. At this time, a few ice-needles had struck him but he'd been beyond caring at this point to take notice.

"Idiot! I don't care! I would've been fine without you!" Sasuke turned and shook a finger at Naruto threateningly, also taking a handful of needles but paying them no heed as well.

This caused them a momentary break as Haku watched the argument, confused. His attacks were being ignored, since his opponents bickered amongst themselves. The masked boy then made use of the pause to take a breather, as his stamina was severely taxed. He just needed to buy his master enough time to kill their opponents' client, then he would be able to make his escape without having to force his hand.

"Pfft! Look where it got you! You're still in his technique anyway!" Naruto bared his teeth poking the dark-haired boy.

"If you just stayed outside, we could have finished this already!" This time, Sasuke roughly jabbed a finger into Naruto's chest.

Having enough, Naruto wracked his mind for a solution and within seconds, an answer did present itself. He'd internally debated against the plan before he'd remembered another event. The fight against the demon brothers had Sasuke throw a kunai to stop their attackers from wrapping Naruto's body in chains...

...well, the flimsy excuse was better than leaving it to a battle of attrition like he'd originally planned when he'd entered the technique.

"FINE!" Naruto snarled back having enough. "You saved my life last time, so I'm going to do you a favour!"

The blond boy searched through his pack and retrieved a piece of paper, which both Haku and Sasuke immediately recognised as an exploding note.

"You want an exit? I'LL GIVE YOU AN EXIT!"

Naruto sported his shadow replications as a distraction and he sent one towards a mirror with the note in hand.

Haku saw through Naruto's plan. Knowing he could do nothing now that the note was set to explode, he could lower the scale of damage to his technique if he took out the clone and then retreat to the mirror furthest from the area of damage.

The clone hadn't gotten too far before it was struck with a needle. It was caught directly between Sasuke and a mirror during then. The note hung ominously in midair for a split second, being consumed by fire.

The explosion was punctuated with a well-timed clap of thunder.

---

The sound of an explosion rocked the bridge, sending a light vibration throughout the structure. Both Kakashi and Zabuza shared a glance to the sources of both explosion and thunder.

Kakashi swore.

---

Sakura was torn. She'd couldn't leave their client. But then again, her teammates needed her. And, of course, the sound of thunder herald the coming rain and the severe disadvantage that it will bring.

Time was running out. She was trapped by her duty.

---

Sasuke groaned and tried to pull himself up. A weight had lay across him, stopping him from doing so, however.

On closer examination, it was Naruto and not his target. Quickly filing the thought aside, Sasuke scanned the immediate area.

The heart of the explosion hadn't been that large. There wasn't a crater, but an ample amount of black soot on the ground -giving much credit to Tazuna's bridge building planning's.

However, the explosive note seemed to work where his earlier Grand Fireball had failed. The explosion had come in two parts.  
The first, had been the heat provided. Though it did not provide nearly enough as much heat as Sasuke's own Grand Fireball, what heat that was provided was instantaneous enough to evapourate most of the moisture -like that of drying the cement on which they stood, then banishing away part of the mist and additionally causing light damage to Haku's technique. Though the damage listed is only of slight importance, its effects were undeniably valuable when combined with the second effect.  
The second portion of the explosive note had been the massive concussive force generated that was able to -not only shatter a few mirrors, but also propel various shards and fragments off the bridge. All in all with the combined amount of damage, Haku would be hard-pressed to form materials to fix his technique.

But then Sasuke noted that the nearby mist from Kakashi's fight was slowly drifting in and was being converted to reform mirrors to fill in the gap.

He smirked. If he and Naruto were to get up and run through the gap, there would be a good chance they could get outside Haku's technique. Then their mutual enemy would have to release it or waste more chakra moving or making more mirrors, leaving him mostly exhausted for the rest of the fight.

His gaze drifted back to Naruto, he reached out to help his teammate get to his senses...  
...but froze. Naruto's back was smoldering.

Naruto had taken more damage from the blast in comparison to Sasuke's own body.

Then it dawned on the raven-haired boy. His idiot teammate took the full brunt of the explosion for him. So now, the blond boy was incapable of getting to his feet right away, meaning that Sasuke would have to carry the other to escape.

But there wasn't enough time for both.

Sasuke glanced to his rapidly closing exit. An exit made as a returned favour.

Then back to his teammate. His completely defenseless teammate.

He'd have to make his choice now.

So he did.

---

Since sending the clones out with the explosive note, Naruto had forced a quick burst of red chakra to run through his veins. This had the effect of dulling the pain receptors of both current wounds and then buffering the coming explosion. It had barely kept him conscious as he took the full brunt of the impact.

It was a gamble, he knew, but once he'd done this, then Haku may or may not attempt to kill him. Either way, once Sasuke gets out, it'll be easier. Either the long way, with Sasuke on the outside providing cover support, or the fast way when Haku closes in on himself when he's still lying down.

Then when he felt a bit of movement to his side, Naruto blinked his eyes open and tensed to attack...

...only to find the dark-haired member of Team 7 standing over him.

"Sasuke...?"

A pair of red eyes met his.

---

Sasuke's logical mind was already outside the technique and was pulling out plans to get ready to counter-attack.

But on seeing his comrade down, Sasuke's feet held firm.

There was too much a resemblance to the way his comrade lay face down compared to his nightmares of all those years back. And in this instance, he knew that if he were to abandon Naruto, there would be a good chance that his teammate may die.

He couldn't let that happen.

Not again.

Not when he was here -now- and could do something to stop it.

He stood tall and brought about all his focus. Unconsciously, chakra gathered to his eyes as he forced himself to see what was happening. His eyes turned the shade of blood as the working of the Sharingan had slowly begun to process.

There was a flicker of movement and things seemed to slow.

But he could see it.

A flurry of needles bearing down on him!

He could see it!

Sasuke readied a kunai and positioned himself taking guard over Naruto's laying form, easily parrying all the projectiles the masked boy sent.

Then a feeble voice called out his name.

"Sasuke...?"

Sasuke met Naruto's eyes for second, before turning his attention back.

"You're... still here?" Naruto coughed in disbelief.

It was plain as day that Sasuke smirked.

"Geeze... And they say... I'm the idiot." Naruto jibed weakly.

"I don't like owing people, dead-last." Sasuke responded in kind, deflecting another attack.

---

By this time, Haku found his stamina far too taxed. He'd have to move now and finish this if he were to even think about aiding his master.

This was when Naruto started to rise.

So Haku did the first thing that came to mind.

---

Sasuke saw the needles coming.  
But the trajectory was low.  
Naruto was in the way.

So Sasuke did the first thing that came to mind.

---

Naruto swore under his breath when he recovered from Sasuke's crushing body slam.

"Dammit Sasuke! I-"

The complaint had died in mid-sputter seeing Sasuke's neck pierced with a handful of needles. Naruto instinctively rushed to his fallen teammate, his own nerves frazzled as he tried to take in the situation.

Sasuke took a hit for him.

"W-why?" Naruto's voice threatened to crack. "Why did you do this?"

"I don't know, I just did, idiot." Sasuke croaked, even managing the effort to insult Naruto in the same sentence.

"Back when we first started the mission -you saved my life already! I was supposed to pay you back when I got you an exit, idiot!" The whiskered genin said desperately.

"You counted it wrong, moron." Sasuke wheezed. "I did you a favour for the demon brothers..."

And there was a pause as he fought to breathe.

"...but you got me out from under Zabuza's foot."

Naruto's eyes widened. He did save Sasuke from Zabuza... But this was different! This was very, VERY different! You don't just take a hit meant for someone else!

But before he could say so, Sasuke interrupted.

"Besides..." Sasuke whispered in a far away voice, watching an old memory.

"I can't... let the people around me... die again."

Then he gained a focused edge for the merest of seconds as he stared eye to eye with his rival.

"Top this, dead-last."

Red eyes dimmed to an empty black before closing. He went limp.

Carefully laying the body of his teammate down, Naruto's body shook as he slowly stood.  
He tilted his head agonisingly and grimaced wider, baring fangs.  
A lone tear slid down his face.

So Naruto did the first thing that came to mind.

And everything turned red.

---

The flare of chakra gave pause to Kakashi's battle with Zabuza. Kakashi swore under his breath and withdrew a scroll, intending to finish this confrontation immediately.

Another clap of thunder punctuated the urgency to finish it.

---

Sakura had been facing Kakashi's area of battle, poised and ready to defend from any more incoming attacks when the burst of malevolent chakra burst coming from the direction of her teammates' battle.

A small prayer hung from her lips, hoping against hope that her teammates were still in good health.

---

Haku held a hand in front of him, unable to look at the supernova of chakra that was emanating from his opponent.

He felt like he'd awakened something...  
...something that could sweep him away with just a thought.

---

When Sasuke fell limp, Naruto knew his teammate wasn't dead. He knew this because he had seen Zabuza keel over 'dead' the exact same way.

No.

He was overcome with emotion now not because of the fake-death.  
But because his teammate had unthinkingly took a hit meant for him.

At any other point, it could have been a fatal hit, yet the other took it for him all the same. He took it because he didn't want to see his closest people die again.

Was he a close person to Sasuke?

Could he now consider this teammate his friend?

Raw emotion took over again and wounds rapidly healed. Eyes slitted, turning red and 'whisker' scars darkened and thickened as his destructive emotions hit an apex.

He cast a baleful eye to the closest chakra source he could feel.  
Then Naruto lashed out.

The direct hit scored against Haku had effectively destroyed the older boy's mask as well as the concentration required to hold the ice-mirrors together. With the technique broken, Haku's remaining chakra drained in an unconscious effort to sustain his bloodlimit and so his reserves just about ran dry.

Realising the futility against such a strong foe, Haku could only wait for the finishing hit.

But it never came.

Naruto's fist had stopped directly in front of Haku's face, the intensity of red chakra emanating from Naruto had all but dissipated. The silence stretched as both combatants could only stare tiredly at the other.

"Why don't you kill me?" Haku's question had came about as a whisper.

"Why did it have to come to this?" Naruto replied just as quietly.

"There are people who make this mistake! Not killing because of pity!" Haku quoted one of Zabuza's own teachings.

"I am of no use anymore! I'm not strong enough for Zabuza-sama! Take my life as I had taken your friend's!"

Naruto remained impassive for a time before replying.

"Even in the end, you still could not kill either." The blond boy stated.

Haku's eyes widened a fraction.

"You had prepared yourself to do it, but you still could not."

The missing ninja looked away, ashamed.

"Now tell me why we still fight."

Haku grasped for excuses.

"Because we are on opposing sides."

"We're too similar to be enemies."

Then the sound of a thousand birds had drowned out their thoughts.

---

"...and I created that water-clone containing my blood from when you cut me. So when you destroyed it and it splashed all over you, the smell of my blood had neatly outlined, not only your location, but your critical areas for my dogs to target." Kakashi all but bragged.

"And now, your future is death."

Kakashi went through a handful of hand-seals and his palm lit with chakra. Lightning coursed and crackled through the silver-haired jounin's right arm.

Then he sprinted forwards, towards his opponent. The distance was closing as Kakashi neared his mark, his arm extending, intending to tear into his enemy.

But then someone else entered his line of attack.

At the last second, Kakashi tried to alter his direction, without compromising his target, by pushing hard on his heel and diverging his aim in a viable direction.

The results was that he'd stood over Haku's prone form, his hand curved over the boy's left shoulder. Kakashi's attack had skimmed Haku's shoulder and effectively flash-frying the cut flesh.

Zabuza had been less lucky. Though the attack had also missed his critical areas, the tendons connecting his ribs to his shoulder had still been in the area of effect. The technique had pushed the areas sharply, making the flesh collapse in on itself. Thanks to the heavy bleeding, it was impossible to determine the amount of internal damage, though it was clear the connecting arm was useless.

Both fighters stared at the entrance of the other combatant. Then, at the same time as Haku collapsed and the dog summons disappeared, both jounins took it as a sign to further their fight.

---

Sakura quickly pulled up a guarding stance as someone descended on her position, the fog had been lifting slightly at the arrival. Then she recognised the figure.

"Naruto!" Sakura and Tazuna chorused with pleasant surprise.

Naruto closed in and halted, giving them both a quick once-over.

"You guys, okay?" He asked, finding that Tazuna wasn't putting weight on a certain ankle.

Sakura and Tazuna both gave an affirmative. Though seeing Naruto looking somewhat fine struck Sakura as odd but she had gone on to ask her next question and the thought was forgotten.

"What about Sasuke?" The question came about hopeful.

Naruto reflexively flinched. The other member of Team 7 had different standings in his eyes now and he hadn't come to terms with it just yet.

"He'll be... okay." Naruto chose his words carefully.

Before Sakura could push him onwards about it, he'd already bolted and headed in Kakashi's direction.

The mist cleared just enough to allow her an unobstructed view of Sasuke's still form.

---

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out before skidding to a halt just behind his teacher.

"Naruto?" Kakashi glanced over to said charge, confirming the presence.

Naruto inwardly berated himself. Clearly, that chakra surge he had little control of had alerted all ninja within miles of the bridge of him and his possible capabilities. Just another reason to have a paranoid teacher figuratively breathing down his neck from the shadows for the days to come.

But there were more important matters at hand at the moment.

"Haku's collapsed, but Zabuza's still got one good arm." Kakashi reported then he turned and regarded Naruto with an order.

"Stay back Naruto. This is my fight."

Naruto made no move and after a second of hesitation, he gave a nod to his teacher. Kakashi understood the double meaning. His student will not advance, but won't back down either; ready at a moment's notice to back him up if necessary.

---

The pink-haired genin cradled her dark-haired teammate's head carefully.

"You're taking this too calmly." Tazuna remarked.

Sakura didn't say anything for a time, but just stared down at her fallen teammate. It was a while before she would choose her answer.

"Rule 25 states that in no matter what situation, a shinobi must keep their emotions on the inside and that the mission must take top priority."

Then she steeled herself for the last part.

"A shinobi must possess a heart that never shows tears."

Tears were already inching their way down her face as she said so. Sakura sniffled as she'd still futily tried to hold it back.

"He's not dead. Zabuza didn't die from this and Naruto didn't say he was dead."

Tazuna bowed his head.

"Then why are you crying...?" The older man asked.

Sakura couldn't answer. She had an epiphany about what the future would bring. What would happen should someone really die?

---

Zabuza knew he was outnumbered, but strategically, he was better off. Jounin teacher's would have to look after their charges and thus, it was a weakness to exploit.

Zabuza charged in Naruto's direction.

Expecting this, Kakashi also sprinted to intercept. However, he was surprised that Zabuza zigged away into his path. Kakashi bounced backwards, only for Zabuza to zag in the direction heading for Naruto again.

Kakashi's eyes widened. A double feint! He tried to adjust his trajectory but found that he would be hard pressed to make this.

On seeing he was the target, Naruto pulled out a kunai for each hand, preparing himself for the incoming attack. Zabuza had just reached Naruto's position and went to deliver the crushing attack for a horizontal slice. Seeing this, Naruto knew that blocking wouldn't be able to stop the missing ninja's fierce swing from throwing him down, so he forced a shadow replication to appear in front of him to push himself out of the attack range, but was surprised.

The attack had dipped at the last second, tearing up sparks as it scratched along the ground, missing Naruto and the clone entirely!

The attack wasn't meant for him.

Kakashi had just reached Naruto's position when Zabuza's attack changed direction -directly aiming for the jounin! The silver-haired jounin had just enough time to hold up a kunai to block, and the brunt of Zabuza's over-sized sword clashed with Kakashi's small dagger. The silver-haired jounin was hard-pressed to hold it off, but suddenly, the sword's pressure had alleviated.

Kakashi looked up over and found Naruto within Zabuza's defense. The young blond ninja had used the clone he'd just summoned to grab him by his jacket and pull himself over into Zabuza's personal space, allowing Naruto to pin both kunais, held hand over hand in a scissors vice around Zabuza's throat. The missing ninja couldn't even swallow lest he would cut himself. Then Kakashi's quick movement had him slap away Zabuza's sword, sending it further along the bridge.

The wind kicked up, each combatant's eyes met.

Check and mate.

A sinister laugh filled the air.

"How pathetic!"

---

"How pathetic!" A diminutive, stocky little man called out, his cry earning the audience of the battling ninja.

"Gatou..." Zabuza hissed, recognising the name behind the voice.

Kakashi and Naruto tensed at the name. Just at the edge of the bridge stood the root of their problem...  
...And a much bigger problem, as many bandits had lined up at the edge of the bridge, backing up their sole employer. Many more were still climbing over the edge from the many boats below.

"I knew you were bound to fail, Zabuza, which is why I hired you." The little man sneered and he cast a pointing hand over the bridge.

"All of you ninja are the same! All of you are only tools of war but the missing ninja are the most pathetic! They think they have a purpose, so they are desperate and never question what they are told! Now my men will finish the job."

Gatou took several steps forwards.

"Your services are terminated, Zabuza..." He pushed up the bridge of his glasses with his index finger. "And so are you."

Kakashi pulled away from Zabuza and took some heavy breaths.

"Stand down, Naruto. Zabuza's not in Gatou's employment now, but we're still in Tazuna's protection. Get ready." Kakashi ordered.

Hesitantly, Naruto pulled back.

The Devil of the Mist did not react. He kept his eyes cast down, disbelievingly in mild shock at how far he had fallen. One of the Seven Swordsmen. To die here at the hands of such scum.

"Ah! This is the one that broke my arm." Gatou remarked, when he'd come across Haku's prone form.

Then he pulled his leg back and delivered a swift kick.

"HAKU!"

A well of feelings pulled to the surface and Naruto attempted to dash forward, but a swift yank from the back of his jacket had denied him the chance to jump to Haku's aid.

"Don't just blindly jump in. Look at their numbers." Kakashi advised through clench teeth.

"Haku's being hurt!" Naruto shouted. "We can take them!"

Kakashi's grip tightened and Naruto knew he couldn't depend on his teacher for this instance.

"Aren't YOU going to do something?-!" Naruto changed tactics and turned to their once-opponent.

Zabuza still said nothing, having not looked away from the floor.

So Naruto dropped one of the kunai's he held and, with that free hand, reached out and grabbed Zabuza by the bandages that wrapped around the missing ninja's face. The older ninja was pulled down at Naruto's eye-level, and then forcibly turned as to be positioned to see Gatou give Haku another kick.

"He's your friend, isn't he!-? Shouldn't you do something!-?"

Zabuza's unfocused eyes kept looking past Gatou and Haku.

"Aren't you going to do something about that?-!" Naruto shouted at Zabuza. "He's still alive!"

The missing ninja met Naruto's eyes, tired.

The short man gave another swift kick into Haku's ribs, causing a trickle of blood to run at the unconscious boy's mouth.

"Bastard!"

Having seen enough, Naruto pushed Zabuza away, and with his kunai brandishing hand, he cut through his jacket's material at the base where Kakashi held him by -thus allowing Naruto the freedom to run to Haku's defense.

Seeing the threat, Gatou ran head long into his followers, hastily issuing orders to kill their opposition.

Once Naruto reached Haku's prone form, the mob had descended, intending on bearing down on the boys. Naruto drew forth several Shadow Clones to defend as best he could, each going in with punches and kicks flailing in an attempt to keep the crowd from swarming.

---

Zabuza had been caught in a reverie consisting of a series of jumbled images of every waking moment that finally built up to this. Built up to Naruto rushing to Haku's aid. His supposed enemy was rushing to his fallen accomplices' aid. Based on what? On a solitary afternoon?

And for the first time in years, Zabuza truly opened his eyes.

He was simple boy once.  
He grew up with simple ideals.  
Simple hopes and dreams.  
Hopes and dreams he worked hard for.

_-It was supposed to be a show of strength... It didn't mean he was trying to...-_

Then one day, an honourable swordsman of mist had fallen.  
And he took someone of such pure heart with him.

And just like for each rock that helped paved in making the very bridge he stood on, he saw each sin that built the road to where he stood today.

He'd paved a road to hell from good intentions.

He glanced over to his side and Kakashi met his gaze only for a second. Then the mismatched-eyed jounin rushed to his pupil's aid.

"Today's a good day to die." Zabuza muttered under his breath.

---

The silver-haired teacher could hear an echo of footsteps on pavement behind him as he sprinted to his student. Scooping up Zabuza's sword along the way, he lightly tossed it over his shoulder and was rewarded with it not making a clattering sound. Zabuza was right behind him and had caught his weapon.

Upon reaching Naruto and Haku, Kakashi shoved some of the men away, intending on defending both boys. Zabuza, however, didn't stop in his run. He'd kept dashing forwards, swinging relentlessly as he took down man after man in his frenzied sprint.

He had Gatou squarely in his sights.

Seeing Zabuza forcing the bandits' attention on him, Kakashi made use of the diversion to grab both Naruto and Haku and pushed themselves further back along the bridge and away from harm's way.

When it looked like Zabuza would reach Gatou and deliver his redemption, he was tackled and mobbed, his mop of hair drowning out under the wave of attackers as spears and swords were raised and lowered repeatedly. Teacher and student flinched at the sight.

But then...

"Kakashi-sensei... That chakra..." Naruto gasped.

Zabuza's chakra flared astoundingly bright, throwing back the huddled crowd. The aura had formed into an image of his Demonic name-sake and he'd rose with weapons still hanging off him, now intending more than ever to finish what he'd started.

Kakashi nodded to his student and began to explain.

"To use up that much chakra to make a physical manifestation of his intent... Though capable of deflecting attacks, it is not effective for battles, for not only do many ninja lack extensive stamina at their disposal, but it also easily damages your chakra pathways and can hospitalise a person for months at a time and still possibly end in death."

Kakashi halted in his explanation as Gatou was finally within Zabuza's reach.

"However, for the ninja that have nothing left to lose, an intent to not recover... This is what is called a _death march._"

Zabuza closed in with one mighty swing.

And Gatou was no more.

---

With their leader down and his killer collapsing, the bandits turned to set their sights on the Wave, wanting to tear down the little country that denied them their ill-gained wealth-to-be.

It wasn't going to happen when all of Wave's citizens had taken a stand at the entrance of their Country.

Tazuna gaped.

"Inari! Tsunami! What are you doing here?-!"

Sure enough, Inari and Tsunami wore cooking pots as substitutes for helmets. The former having somehow acquired a crossbow whilst the latter wielded a frying pan.

"We're going to protect the Wave, gramps! We'll all protect it with our lives!" Inari shouted.

He was chorused by a round of cheers and battle cries from the citizens that were backing him. Pride lined the old architects heart at seeing the courage radiating from the crowd.

Seeing themselves out-matched, the would-be attackers fled. There were many who thought that taking the ropes and ladders were better off than those that went directly for the ocean. Though it was proven wrong, as the many that did take those modes of transport going down had been, in effect, forced down from the people above them, thus loosing foot and grip and inadvertently followed the example of those that jumped.

It wasn't long before the last bandit had disappeared and a great victorious cry rose among the citizens of the Wave.

They'd stood face to face with adversity and triumphed together.

---

Soon, the crowds had departed, celebrating their victory, leaving the original group from before Gatou's interference.

Kakashi took to delegating the tasks that need be done, for instance before all the civilians left, he had some of them dispose of the bandits and Gatou's cold dead corpse. No one felt bad about going through what the corrupt little man had in his pockets.

Then Kakashi had Sakura, Tazuna and Naruto help relocate the unconscious forms of Haku, Sasuke and Zabuza to get them ready to be moved out for when his order of a couple of stretchers would come.

It was at this point in waiting that Zabuza's dying voice drifted over to the commandeering jounin.

"Kakashi." Zabuza wheezed. "I want to make a request."

The silver-haired jounin walked over to the dying missing ninja and kneeled at his side.

"What is it?"

"You were right about my future containing death..." Zabuza morbidly joked, but he was quick to turn it into a serious inquiry.

"I want to borrow one of your students to help me."

Kakashi had a vague idea where this was going and wasn't sure what to make of it.

"What do you mean?" He asked for clarification.

"The boy... He's ready to become a true ninja." Zabuza answered plainly.

Kakashi gave pause. It was a very delicate matter. Then after much thought, he made his decision.

"Sakura, Tazuna. We'll be moving Sasuke and Haku to the foot of the bridge and wait for the stretchers there." He ordered.

Both people addressed did so, but having not had the privilege to hear what was being said between the two jounins, they gave curious looks towards the teacher before moving the wounded away.

When they were at a suitable distance, Kakashi singled out Naruto.

"Naruto. Zabuza wants to talk to you. I'll just be further down the bridge."

Naruto nodded and approached the fallen mist ninja.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Kakashi added mysteriously after Naruto passed him.

Kakashi's parting words echoed in Naruto's mind. Naruto gave a curt nod and did not bother to turn around to face his teacher. Whether his teacher saw it or not, did not matter -they were at an understanding.

The blond genin walked over and waited for Zabuza to speak first. The older ninja only did so once everyone left the immediate vicinity, with the exception being Kakashi who was still at a fair distance. The dampness of the weather turned Kakashi's form into a silhouette and the others disappeared from sight.

"Naruto... I have a favour to ask of you."

"What's that?" Naruto asked cautiously.

"Though I am undeserving of a second, I cannot act on my own. Will you aid me?"

"A second...?" Naruto tried to discern the words and quickly realised what the missing ninja meant.

"You mean... Seppuku?" Naruto gasped, looking into the missing ninja's eyes for confirmation of the ritual suicide. When Zabuza did not answer, Naruto knew he'd hit the nail on the head.

"Why... why me?"

"Because... For me, too much has happened and Haku holds you in high regard... I saw with my own two eyes what he meant... "

"It will be an honor for me." Zabuza meant every word.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before nodding slowly. Zabuza kneeled and Naruto brought the larger man's useless arm to rest on his lap. Removing a kunai from his pocket, Naruto placed the weapon in Zabuza's hands and closed the fingers around the instrument of death, the bladed edge facing towards the older's stomach.

The young genin was never able to comprehend the point of ritual suicide. It didn't need to be said, that at times, he'd wanted to just simply lay down and die, but he found there was so much to live for.  
Revenge...  
Goals...  
Strength...

_...friends...?_

"Are you... are you just going to leave Haku?" Naruto asked. It was the only thing he knew that related to keeping the older ninja alive.

Zabuza gave pause, considering his next words.

"It is best Haku finds his own dreams." He stated simply. "But when this is over, I want you to pass this sword to Kakashi."

"Why?"

"He will know when you give it to him."

Naruto hesitantly conceded and gave the older man a few breaths to steady himself.

"Is it true what Gatou said? All ninja are only tools of war for their countries?" Naruto asked out of the blue.

"Do you think so?" Zabuza replied, staring back into Naruto's eyes long and hard.

Naruto didn't know what to think. A long meaningful silence echoed around them, which was punctuated by a thunder clap and a flash of lightning.

"Enough talk. Do it now."

Naruto took a few breaths, then held one of Zabuza's arms tightly as with his other hand around the other's fingers, he gave a sharp push.

A groan escaped Zabuza's lips. Then he hesitantly coughed a little.  
Blood was pooling out of his mouth and staining the bandages crimson.

"I... had a... dream... once." Zabuza choked, through bloody gasps.

Naruto felt his own throat tighten.

"I wanted... to be... the Mizukage..." The older choked through more coughing fits, some of it spraying all over Naruto's face. Blood mixed with tears.

"You are what I could become." Naruto whispered.

The blond boy grimaced and pulled the last of his will to finish the ritual suicide. The kunai went higher, directly into the middle of the rib cage area.

Zabuza breathed his last.

And the heavens shed its tears.

---

The rained had picked up in velocity, and the damp change had thickened the mist, covering much of the bridge in a vague silhouette. Because of this, Kakashi had lost sight of both ninjas still on the bridge. Despite knowing the mist was a natural affliction, Kakashi internally warred a little at the thought of leaving his pupil in this predicament. Even if Zabuza held true to his word...

"Naruto's not like me." Kakashi speculated. "I doubt he's ready for such burden."

His worries were alleviated when he noticed a lone figure approaching him.

As he came closer, it was easier to tell it was Naruto, dragging along an overly large blade. The front of his clothes had been stained with a dark hue. His hands and face covered in blood that the rain just spread further.

However, Naruto's hunched countenance spoke volumes of being tired; both physically and mentally. This had the effect of reviving Kakashi's worry and sending it to new heights. He'd personally hoped that Naruto would have turned it down. Once again, he'd been surprised.

When Naruto stopped in front of his teacher, the boy refused to look his teacher in the eyes.

"Everyone's already gone back to Tazuna's place." Kakashi said, providing the explanation why he was alone.

Naruto held out Zabuza's sword, presenting it to Kakashi. Understanding the gesture, Kakashi placed his hand on the handle to keep the over-sized weapon steady, and with the other hand, gave Naruto's shoulder a reassuring pat.

"I'll take care of it, Naruto." The jounin acknowledged. "You can clean up now. You've done enough."

"Thank you, sensei."

---

**Wave Aftermath**

A new day came and with it, a new hope for the people of the Wave. It was as if the rain last night had washed away all the evil that threatened their country.

Most of the population of the Wave had come out and drove the lingering remainder of Gatou's groups out of town.

Naruto spent most of his time to himself and though only Kakashi knew of the boy's reasons for doing so, everyone gave him his space.

Sakura had spent most of her time training, as well as standing guard over Tazuna. It wasn't because it was necessary, but simply because it was still their job.

Sasuke and Haku were placed into separate rooms, resting and recuperating from their respective injuries.

Kakashi was moving between resting and casual meanderings, as he took his assignment with a more casual outlook. Every other day of the week would have him going about the town where he would be given heartfelt thanks from the people.

Tsunami had been festive with her cooking and had been in a better mood than ever, as was her son.

Tazuna went back to supervising the building of his bridge, though now with the whole town aiding him, they would complete the bridge within a week.

---

**Wave Aftermath:** The Wave's Ease.

As of the moment, Sakura had taken a seat and wiped her forehead with a handkerchief. It was only the day following the one of taking Wave back from Gatou and the weather was a little sunny today. Still pretty cloudy, and good chances of rain but it held a promise for all the sunny days to come.

Tazuna caught how tired Sakura was and decided to call for a break, however his entourage had laughed and had told him to rest while they continue. Clearly the excitement was sparkling and everyone wanted to keep moving on forward to finish as soon as possible.

The aging architect seated himself aside with the pink-haired genin.

"Inari had united the people of the Wave that day." He suddenly stated.

Sakura tilted her head in question.

"But it was Naruto that inspired that courage." The grandfather also added.

"Oh?" Sakura didn't know where this was heading.

There was a gleam in Tazuna's eye.

"Well... This bridge does need a name..."

Making the connections, Sakura had laughed. The thought of Naruto having such influence over so many people to have an amazing structure already being affiliated with him...  
...but it also made her believe for a moment, that Naruto stood a chance at becoming Hokage. Or at least a possibility to reach such great heights.

After her chuckling died down, she managed a glance at the town behind them and an odd thought occurred to her.

"You know, I think it'd be a good idea to start a new ninja village here." Sakura commented thoughtfully to Tazuna. "It might bring better trade and make the Wave into a proper city."

"No." Tazuna shook his head. "No one from the Wave would approve of it."

"Why's that?" Sakura asked.

"Many of the people and even the Feudal Lord had been opposed to hiring ninjas for help. Even I was really nervous! That's why I've been drinking so much when we'd first started off!"

The old man gave a hearty laugh after the confession.

"Though I'm sure everyone's glad we called you guys, I don't think we're ready for that sort of thing."

Sakura's brows furrowed as she'd realised something. She hadn't been getting odd looks as of late.

"Is that why we were getting weird looks when we'd first arrived?"

"Yes." The architecture nodded. "It's not personal, it's just that the superstition is wide spread among the populace."

Sakura pivoted her body slowly to face the older man, all of her attention now on him.

"What's this superstition?"

"Most believe that if a ninja ever sets foot back in the country of the Wave, it would herald the return of the Nine-tails."

---

**Wave Aftermath:** Forging Verses.

There was light rain during midweek. Everyone confined themselves indoors but the weather hadn't dampened the citizen's spirits. The bridge had a set completion time and many were getting ready for a small festival on its opening.

It was this day that Haku finally awakened from his chakra-induced slumber to the sound of pitter-patter of raindrops above his head. Kakashi was the first person he saw when he opened his eyes.

"I am a prisoner?" The boy made the logical assumption.

The silver-haired jounin put away his preferred reading material and gave Haku his full attention.

"No. Gatou and Zabuza are dead." The older ninja replied.

The mist boy had become numb.

"W-what? H-how?" The younger boy was starting to shake.

The jounin then explained that when Haku collapsed from chakra-exhaustion, Gatou made an appearance, revealing his true intentions and that Zabuza had made sure to take down his former employer. And then with great reluctance, Kakashi also told Haku of Naruto's part afterwards.

The younger mist ninja did not say anything for a time.

"What's to become of me then?" He asked.

"That's solely up to you." Was the reply.

Haku could only nod.

"I... I want to see where he's buried."

Kakashi gave Haku instructions on how to reach Zabuza's burial spot and that he would send Sakura in a few moments with something for him.

---

Zabuza's grave was a mound of dirt and a simple erected cross with a chain of flowers hanging off of it.

Haku's still form stood in front of it for what seemed like an eternity. He did not think of bringing an umbrella, and was completely drenched for not thinking to do so. It's not that he lacked owning an object to prevent him getting wet nor was it because he didn't mind the rain but it was due to him being too distracted. He had too many questions, too many options and too many emotions.

He had reached his own dead end.

Some rustling alerted him to someone approaching, but he didn't bother to take a defensive stance against the visitor.

"Haku."

Haku turned around at the greeting.

"Sakura, I believe."

Sure enough, it was the pink-haired female he'd noted on the several occasions he'd crossed path with Team 7. She seemed a little uncomfortable, but that was understandable. They were once opponents and it was reason enough to keep her guard up.

Unlike him, she held an umbrella in one hand. In the other, an object bound in cloth.

There was a brief silence as neither was willing to speak first, but when Haku's gaze landed on Sakura's parcel, the girl was compelled to explain.

"Kakashi told me to give you this."

Sakura held out the wrapped cloth, to which Haku carefully accepted. Upon opening it, he found Zabuza's broken blade. Though the handle was still intact, the blade had been severed a few inches off the hilt. He took it by the handle solemnly and held it close, one of his fingers tracing the serrated edge.

Sakura was about to leave him alone with his thoughts, when Haku's voice reached out to her.

"There's a tradition in the Hidden Mist." He felt the need to explain.

"They say that in the great swordsmen families, when the son comes of age, the Father will pass his blade to his son."

There was a deathly silence as air seemed to condense. An aura of cold mist wafted off the missing ninja accomplice. Sakura's hand hovered over her pouch, but she knew it was unjustified. Haku continued regardless.

"But the blade is always broken when the son accepts. He will have to forge his own sword from the remainder of his father's. This is because his grandfather's sword is his own... And his father's sword is his own... And now, the son's sword is his own... But it is also a bond between all family that inherit it."

The silence extended with the explanation, and Haku turned around dropping the weapon to linger at his side, as he once again stared at the marker. Sakura bowed, taking it as a sign to give the boy his peace.

Lost in his thoughts for what could have been hours, Haku eventually looked upwards, to the heavens.

"Am I to forge my own blade for you, Zabuza-sama?" He asked the Heavens. He even gave pause as if expecting an answer.

"To follow my own path and my own ideals?" He asked again, this time nearly a whisper.

Though he wished it, there was no reply. He wasn't expecting one either.  
The feminine boy sighed and let his head drop. Then his eyes widened in surprise.

He pulled the sword closer to his face, examining how the rain hit the sword. He'd activated his blood limit unconsciously earlier and the metal had chilled at his touch, so when the rain droplets inched downward to the severed edge, his bloodlimit had the drops frozen before they could drip off the sword.

It built up when he had been distracted and now he held the base of a sword, with an edge of ice.

"Zabuza-sama..." Haku choked.

And the rain fell harder.

---

**Wave's Aftermath:** Conscious Decisions.

Dark pupils dilated as eyelids flickered open.

Sasuke blinked.

He was alive.

He'd attempted to sit up but found the task difficult. After much struggling, he'd managed it but it took a strenuous amount of effort. His straining had attracted the attention of Tsunami. She fawned over him for some time before going back to her own tasks and sending in the nearest available teammate.

"How are you feeling, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, as she stepped into the room.

"I'm fine." He gave a curt reply, ignoring his sore muscles.

Then he turned to look her in the eye.

"What happened? I take it we won, since Tsunami looks to be happy?" He deduced.

"Yes!" Sakura nodded enthusiastically.

The female genin of Team 7 went on to explain the events of the bridge.

"Haku's alive and he's here!-?" Sasuke exclaimed. The thought of the older boy had given him a bad taste in his mouth. The avenger didn't like the idea of someone who was stronger than him.  
...but then he realised that he'd finally activated his bloodlimit and he gained the upper hand since then. If there would be a follow up confrontation, Sasuke assured himself he easily would be the victor.

"Well, yes and no." Sakura bit her lower lip. "Haku's alive, but since Zabuza and his client are dead, we shouldn't expect him to attack us." She explained almost reading his mind and replying so (though it was her own fears that led her to ask this of her teacher much earlier).

"And he's not here anymore." Sakura added. Sasuke furrowed his brows.

"He didn't come back yesterday since visiting Zabuza's grave."

Sasuke gave a slow nod.

They stayed silent for a bit. Then Sakura spoke up again.

"Naruto will be happy to know you're awake."

"Hnn?" Sasuke grunted.

"He's been real quiet lately. He's been going off by himself again, like when we left our village."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Naruto's been training again, so that'd mean he would have to push himself further into training as soon as possible.

But he smirked also.

The thought of their battle against Haku was fresh and he knew that his teammate would prove to be an interesting challenge come soon.

---

**Wave's Aftermath:** Think Pink.

The cotton-candy haired petite ninja of Team 7 sat on the pier, her legs dangling over the water. She'd unconsciously kept her legs above the water as her thoughts erratically jumped here and there.

Waking yesterday, the raven-haired avenger had taken to working out so as to be perfectly in tip-top shape for their trip back tomorrow. She thanked various deities for his hasty recovery. Though he seemed... Quieter? No. More determined.

And then there was the case of...

"So, how's Naruto?" Inari asked much like her inner-self did and was now seating himself by her side.

God, she was just about to get to him.

"I honestly don't know." Sakura answered aloud. "He's always going out in the woods by himself a lot. I think he's training even harder."

"Training? Wow!" He accepted her explanation completely.

It was a half lie, but a lie none the less. She didn't want the little boy to worry. She really didn't know what was going on with him. He was more subdued now than when they were on the road to Wave. Whenever she tried to approach him, he looked to try to force himself to respond.

Things were changing... And she didn't like the look of it.

---

**Wave's Aftermath:** Stalling.

Naruto had been avoiding everyone all week -more so than when they'd first left the Hidden Village of Leaf a while back. For some reason, he felt he couldn't face anyone. Not Tazuna's family or the rest of the Wave, not his teacher, not his teammates and certainly not Haku (when he was around).

Everything seemed to be moving too damn fast for him to comprehend.

Zabuza's death.  
Sasuke's sacrificing himself for his sake.  
Revenge on the Village.

Then the combined thoughts of how he wanted to be perceived by his friends! Just how would Haku see him now? How would he have to act around Sasuke now? How would Sakura see him when she finds out he'd took killed Zabuza!-?

God! How was he supposed to get revenge at all when people would just pop up all around him and just... just...

The confused genin growled.

It was all too distracting.

So Naruto had tried to distance himself for the week. Sort things out himself. But now was the beginning of the morning that they would leave. And he wasn't ready yet; in both sense of the word.

So, here he was, standing outside the blacksmith's door. Afterwards, he'd need to get to the bridge and say goodbye...

Naruto sighed loudly. Just when did things get so complicated?

Taking a deep breath, he resolved himself with a practised grin.

Just take it one day at a time for now.  
Just one day at a time.

And he stepped inside.

---

**Wave's Aftermath:** The Exit of Greatness.

A team consisting of 3 genins and a jounin stood at the entrance of the bridge to Wave. They were all shouldering packs and had been ready to leave, now only taking their time saying goodbyes to all the well-wishers gathered.

Inari was getting all teary-eyed at the goodbye.

"So you're going now, Naruto?" He sobbed.

Naruto gave a grin and ruffled the younger boy's hair.

"Eh, don't cry Inari."

Inari nodded but found himself getting too teary-eyed. Ashamed at being caught crying in front of Naruto, Inari had turned to his mother and tried to share the blame.

"Look mom! You're crying too..." He tried to wipe away his tears.

Tsunami had gave a light laugh.

"But it's alright to cry when you're happy!" She replied pulling her son into an embrace, to which he leaned into.

There was a general chorus of goodbyes and Team 7 had pulled away. They were the first people to cross the bridge and it was widely agreed that they should be allowed the honour of its first use.

"So what were you thinking of calling this bridge?" Tsunami smiled at her father.

"I was thinking of calling it after my grandson, for he gathered the courage to unite the Wave." He said a little too loudly, whilst giving a smirking side-look to said grandson.

Hearing all of this, Inari jumped away and crossed his arms in refusal.

"No way!" He denied. "Naruto's the one who helped me! You should be naming the bridge after him!"

Tazuna and Tsunami nodded, sharing large smiles.

"Then..." Tazuna turned and to the crowd. "I proclaim this, the Great Naruto bridge!"

There was a unanimous roar of approval.

---

**Wave's Aftermath:** Requiem for a Purpose.

After a day's travel and the Wave long behind them, Team 7 re-entered the Fire Country. All were content with looking forward to finally arriving home.

However, Kakashi suddenly held up a hand, causing the group to pause and take up a battle formation.

A sole figure stepped out from behind a nearby tree that everyone was watching anxiously.

"Haku." Sakura breathed.

Indeed it was. He wore the same kimono that he sported when he and Naruto had gone out on the town in. At the moment, one arm carried a small bag -assumably full of travel necessities and a certain broken blade was slung over one shoulder.

"I request to accompany you." Haku announced.

Three pairs of eyes turned from the boy to their teacher, and patiently awaited the answer. Kakashi stared long and hard at the teen.

"Why?"

The rest of the members of Team 7 turned back to Haku.

"I want to learn the answer to that too." Haku admitted.

"There will be politics and procedures involved." Kakashi warned.

"I had a most compelling argument to come." Haku shifted a glance over to Naruto.

The silver-haired jounin accepted, slowly nodding his head and after a quick thought, held out his right hand. Haku shook it.

"Welcome to the Hidden Leaf."

"Thank you."

Then Haku turned to greet the other members of the Leaf.

Sakura had eyed the older boy. Her assessment of when they spoke earlier had her believe the boy was sincere and was looking for a purpose. She would give him the benefit of the doubt and hoped that he would become a trustworthy person eventually. She gave him a bow when he turned her way, to which he returned with a thankful air. (2)

Sasuke gave Haku a hooded gaze. He unlocked his Sharingan now, so he had the edge required to beat the older boy, as well as any foe that he would cross. He could not care any less what Haku did or did not do. When they crossed eyes, he summoned his bloodlimit and smirked smugly at the kimono-clad male who still bowed formally.

Naruto was last and he couldn't meet the older boy's eyes. Haku formally bowed and Naruto returned it uncomfortably. Haku swore that he would talk to Naruto when he was ready to.

---

**Wave's Aftermath:** Stilling the Blood.

Night had fallen and everyone but two people had been taken in by the embrace of sleep. Naruto waited until he heard everyone's breathing become steady, then he got up and sat next to the current sentry -his teacher.

Kakashi had glanced to his student with a lazy acknowledgement.

"Kakashi-sensei..." The blond boy began.

"Is something troubling you?" The jounin asked, though he knew this talk was a long time in coming.

"Do you..." Naruto paused, then tried again. "Do you remember the first time you'd killed someone?"

Kakashi did not answer for a time, his mind elsewhere. It was only his visible eye that gave away a tired form.

"Everyone does." He replied, as he collected himself.

"Does it get easier?"

"No. No, it doesn't."

Naruto exhaled audibly and Kakashi went on to explain himself.

"Even in a heated battle, it will always be them or you. You may not think about it then, but you will when it's over."

His words called on distant memories. Not very pleasant memories. The first had been that certain time he'd seen the mask of death on his father.  
If only he listened to his father more...

"A ninja's profession will always lead to death, one way or another. So even though it's expected and people move on, most will find themselves thinking too much on it at some point or another."

Obito's visage had smiled back at him, even long after the sharingan eye had been removed.  
If only he'd been watching over them more...

"Just try to live the best you can. There's nothing else to it."

He watched the Fourth's back as he rode headlong into battle, knowing full well that his teacher wouldn't be riding back.  
If only he'd been there with him...

"When the time comes and I will be judged, I hope that all that I've done to protect my village will be enough."

A brief silence enveloped them. The last one had been more painful than the last few. He swore he would protect Rin. Kakashi had too many _'if only's'_ but Rin's had the most that he could have done something about.  
If only he'd heard her out.  
If only he'd came in time.  
If only he'd stopped _The Forgetting_ from ever taking place.  
_If only..._

Naruto's voice woke him of his reminiscing.

"What's The Forgetting, sensei?" Naruto asked out of curiousity.

Kakashi cursed as he figured he'd actually mumbled his inner monologue.

"Nothing, Naruto. It was nothing." He harshly dropped the subject.

Seeing the blond boy flinch made Kakashi regret his tone of voice. Naruto was only seeking advice for such a trying time after all.

"Some people would say you were counted lucky. Lucky to be able to kill someone who asked for it." Kakashi got back on track.

Naruto chose his words carefully.

"I don't think so, sensei. Taking another life will still always be taking another life."

"I would say that too."

There was another companionable silence. Each were comfortable in their own individual thoughts and no one wanted to ruin it. Eventually, the orange-clad genin stood, brushing himself off to go back to sleep.

"Thanks for the talk, sensei. I feel a little better." Naruto admitted.

"It's no problem Naruto. But..." Kakashi paused to weigh his words.

"Hmm?"

"You should talk to your former teacher, Iruka."

"Iruka-sensei? Why? Did he do something like this too?"

"I don't know him that well, but there's a reason why some ninjas only ever make it to chuunin but don't want to go any further. I am sure that he's one of them."

Naruto caught the implication and nodded slowly.

"Good night." Kakashi waved.

"Nothing good about it." Naruto responded.

---

So here he was again. Naruto stood before a great entrance. And right there, after he'd spent the whole of last week soul-searching and contemplating all of life, a simple conclusion finally came to him.

Sure he had more questions than before.  
Sure he was more muddled than ever.  
Sure he didn't know himself anymore.

And he decided to hell with it all. He was going to wing it.

So when the great gates before him opened -the Gates of the Hidden Leaf- a real grin appeared on Naruto's face.

_End Chapter Five_

Feedback, constructive criticism and flames welcomed.  
I'll take it like I'll take my daily dose of crazy pills!

* * *

(1)  
I honestly thought the fight would be like this. Maybe not Sakura, but maybe Sasuke or more likely Naruto, since I thought that was the real point of tree-climbing.  
C'mon! You can't be telling me that once you learn tree-walking, you wouldn't hesitate running along a sword edge?-!  
(2)  
Sakura's feelings towards Haku had been very, very odd. She was attempting to catalog Haku in a folder within her mind, but every time she tried to do so, the folder was always marked 'pretty' or 'dainty' or just plain 'girly'.  
She'd glanced over at Sasuke and Naruto eyeing the feminine boy, then she'd folded her arms and huffed.  
Here we go.  
She marked Haku under 'men-thief'.

* * *

Quick heads up:  
**Demon Village:** A pretty good fic! I gave firebirds416 the okays to borrow a scene I done, so don't flame him bout it, ok? (redo series with Kyuubi)  
**Point of Origin: **Garret pi's work is far better than mine, so I'd recommend giving his work a gander! (takes place after 3 year jump)**

* * *

Author's Notes:  
**Well, how's that? I'm afraid I'm still not happy with the rhythm, but l can't seem to find it. I'll give it another 5 chapters before I get back on this. I need a break from the writing the same chapter over and over again. 

About Haku. He will not become a main character but rather take a similar role as the other rookies.

What'd you guys think of the segment headings? I only started them as tabs of the sequences I'd completed, but I'd ultimately left them.

And did you happen to read Fox Identity: Lost Segments before this chapter? Did you expect something else? Well now, you readers should be on to me, so maybe you all can start figuring where I'm going with this. :p  
That was one of the reasons why I cut that out. That and no over do on the angst.

And thus concludes the Wave and (the main portion of the) Hidden Ocean arc. But did you notice that it doesn't seem finished? Or the fact that I didn't include certain important scenes from the series? If you caught all that, you're pretty quick. I'll be FORMALLY concluding all loose Wave ends in the next chapter -before the chuunin exams.

Since my notes are getting too big, **I've placed an explanation in my profile for why this chapter is split into two and why it's also late. **

* * *

**FAQ Section**

_**:For Answering Questions:  
**_Once again, I'm changing my method for answering questions. All general questions will be answered here and I will personally email you, should you leave method of contact.

Hmm... No general questions? Okay. Let me just say that I'm trying to work in more of each of the Team 7 characters as I go along. I'm afraid that people outside of Team 7 will not be getting as big a role though.

The weapons, purchased in Wave, will make appearances during the Chuunin exam. They'll only be of the normal variety however.

And if anyone's new to this, this fic will mostly do little changes but will still stay close to the series, only vastly diverging starting from the 3 year arc.

My thanks to the following:  
_hmr  
PhiloWorm  
aznpuffyhair  
Miss Selame  
JohnnyG  
MingShun  
Peter Kim  
Kitsurumenokitsune  
Little Fox Kit  
Meh  
Saetan  
cheerful-pinkstar  
madnarutofan  
blabityyloloco  
Gogolu  
dragon-wing3  
Zhuyou  
AzureSky123  
deathtraps  
Cyberwing  
Sanosuke  
Dual Rasengan  
dragoninvoid  
Gato-sama  
Viky  
hyuugaman  
Onikami-no-Shinobi  
Goyana  
Kuzo the Golem Pwner  
ChaosRonin  
grayfox42  
gourry-gabriev610  
Tokyo no Ecchi_

Once again, thanks all of your for your support!

And lastly, a special thanks to _Tom_ for helping me out with the chapter!

* * *

**Stats  
**'Classic WITH CHE **word counter'  
**Vers. 04.3 (9/11/05)  
Fic: 11,520  
Notes: 634 

_(Does not include stats)_

Have a Great and Happy day!


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